June 24, 2020 • 30 mins
Terrel Barros and his friends thought they were just going out clubbing until a tragic encounter changed all that. Then, authorities compounded that tragedy by sending an innocent man to prison and setting the confessed killer free.
Learn more and get involved at:
http://www.change.org/freeterrelbarros
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LQPNFwumJQ
https://www.wrongfulconvictionpodcast.com/with-jason-flom
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
August two thousand and twelve started off as a relatively
normal night. Terrell Barrows was at Money Lounge and Providence,
Rhode Island with Stephen Boden and some other friends, and
disagreement ensued between Stephen and two other clubgoers, Rokim Henley
and Jamal Cruz, but the tension didn't boil over until
(00:21):
later in the parking lot. See Stephen Boden wanted his
cigarettes and he would ask Toorell for his car keys
because that's where they were, So he left ahead of
the group, and as fate would have it, who was
parked right next to Terrell, but Jamal and Rookie, who
were now ominously approaching Terrell and the rest of his friends. Though,
we're just arriving on the scene and trying to avoid
(00:44):
the drama, so Terrell made for the driver's side door,
and then gunshots. Terrell quickly ducked into the driver's seat
and Stephen Boden jumped into the passenger side. Seconds later,
the cops were at the car and they saw Stephen
trying to hide the gun. Stephen confessed on the spot
to the shooting. Has Both men were coughed and intoxicated
(01:07):
and mortally wounded Jamal Cruz and put his head down
when shown Terrell a far cry from an identification, but
that didn't stop a detective from testifying a trial about
a quote unquote dying declaration. The state even ignored Stephen
Boton's immediate and uncoerced confession forging blindly ahead to ultimately
(01:29):
sent Darrell to prison, where he remains to this day,
serving two consecutive life sentences plus thirty years. This is
Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flom. Welcome back to Wrongful Conviction
(01:52):
with Jason Flom. Today we're going to be discussing the
really troubling case of Terrell Barrows, who was honesfully convicted
of shooting in which one person was killed and another
was badly injured. And with us today we have a
student at Georgetown who's been doing incredible work investigating his
case under the leadership of my friend, Professor Mark Howard.
(02:15):
So New Genna Hendy, welcome to the show, Thank you, Jason.
The Georgetown class that New Jenna is a student in
is taught by Mark Howard and a name that you'll
recognize him being on our show more than once. Marty
Tankliff and of course, this class was directly responsible for
the exoneration of Valentino Dixon. If you haven't heard his episode,
(02:38):
please go back and listen to it. It's extraordinary. So
we hope to be hearing from Terrell Barrows very soon.
Of course, in this COVID time that we're in, it's
very hard to get to the phones in prison, but
we will be discussing his case and hopefully hearing from
him as the podcast progresses. So let's go back to toot.
(03:01):
Back in August of two thousand and twelve, Terrell Barrows
and a group of friends headed out to Money Lounge
in Providence, Rhode Island. While they're in the club, there's
some sort of verbal altercation between Terrell's group and a
couple of members of another group, including the two that
got shot. One was Rokim Henley, who got shot in
(03:22):
the leg and who I spoke with a couple of
times over the past few months, and then Jamal Cruz
who ended up dying that night. But Tarrell wasn't a
part of that verbal altercation. It was Stephen Baden who was.
And so a name was called, someone's hat got tapped
off their head, and then no one really stays. There's
not a physical altercation at all. Later on in the night,
(03:43):
Stephen Boughten Asterrell. He goes, hey, let me get the tactico.
Get your car keys. So as he's heading over, there
is another car that has parked bumper to bumper with
Terrell's car, and it just happens to be the car
of Jamal Cruise. Stephen thought that Jamal and row Kim
(04:04):
were coming to cause problems when reality they were just
walking to their car stuff and grabs the gun and
you know, witnesses say he told them don't come any closer.
And at this point Torrell starts heading over to his
car with his group of friends. Terrell is about ten
of fifteen feet away from Stephen Bowden in Jamal Cruise,
(04:25):
which is where all I witnesses placed them as well,
And he's actually walking to get to the other side
of his car to hop in the driver's seat because
he knows that there's trouble about to happen he doesn't
want to be a part of it. He hears two gunshots,
he jumps into the driver's seat and almost immediately Stephan
jumps into the passenger seat and the cops are there
to arrest them. And there's more to this too, because
(04:47):
when Stephan jumped into the passenger seat, he had a
sort of a moment of self awareness right where he
started apologizing to Terrell for sort of involving him in
the Yeah, you know. At this point, the arresting officers
are on either side and the gun is still with
stuff in boden. He has caught concealing the gun in
(05:10):
the passenger side door, and Stephen actually confesses on the scene.
He said, it's me, It's all me, it's all mine. Yeah.
They are both arrested, taken to a patty wagon, and
then there's a show up that is done. Now they
spoke with a couple of jury members who told me
this is what caused us to believe Darrell is guilty.
(05:33):
So in the show ups, they bring Stephan over to Jamal,
who was in critical condition on the floor, extremely intoxicated,
and they say, is this the man that shot you?
And Jamal looks away. Apparently when they bring over Terrell,
Detective Matracia says, Jamal nods, that's what they say he did.
(05:53):
It doesn't matter if he nodded or not. He was
in no position to make any identification of anyone, and
we still don't know if he did. Is that like
he stuck his finger out and went, yeah, that's the
guy who shot me, and he's out right, that's not
what happened. They actually did not even do a show
up identification with the other guy, ro Kim Henley, who
was shot and he was not in critical condition. They
(06:15):
also didn't bother to swab the hands of either Terrell
or Stephen, right, that would be so critical to figuring
out who did or did not commit this horrible crime.
And Jason, I think it was clear to arresting officers
this had to have been Stephen. It was in his hand,
he confesses. That's probably why they didn't even swab their hands.
(06:36):
And then you know, somehow the story gets twisted and
it's it's now in Terrell because of what they call
a dying declaration. Terrell always says, he goes, there were
two lives lost that night, Mine and Jamal Cruise, and
I feel bad because Jamal Cruise didn't get justice. Is
(06:57):
a free call from an inmate at maximum security facility.
Thank you for using securist. You may start the conversation now. Hello,
Hey Terrell, thanks for calling in. I know we have
limited time, so let's you get right to it. Can
you take us back to the awful night of this
(07:19):
crime and give us your perspective, having lived through this
nightmare yourself. Well back at that night, and the two
dudes approached, you know, talking to m Steffing about something.
The problem was with me. So we went outside on
the front of the club, step from one of my
keys to go get a cigarettes. So when we go
to the path, the two dudes approaching. So I see
(07:40):
them two dudes. Oh my god, man, here we go.
So I turned around to go the job inside of
the car and I hear shocks. So I just run
into my car. So got onto my car. Pop is
like a us he had to gun on me and
put your hand understand Will. I put my hand to
understand Will, and he keeps on saying it what are
you talking to? Stuff in So he puts his hands
(08:01):
on the stand wheel and he's like, yo, I'm sorry,
I'm sorry. I love y'all, love you. The police officers
tapping open, He's like, oh yo, the passinger's got the gun.
So as soon as he opens up the door, Stephan says,
it's me. It saw me, it's all mine. He's like
it's shoot. He's like, yeah, it's me. So when he
took him out, he's already hetting come from the other
pop they had the gun on us. He comes, he
(08:22):
flashed puss on the wrist, my wrist and swings me
on the floor, brings it back to the Patty Wagon.
There's about held shot. I didn't know no one was shot.
I could see blood every this dude shirt. So this
dude shot in the chest and this dude is like
doing a show up with this guy shot in the chest,
asking him this in the sin the sin. The guy
(08:42):
just looked at me and put his head down. He
didn't say nothing, he didn't do nothing. He is saying nothing.
He just put his head down. So then they had
put me back into patty wagon. They bring me back
to the station. When we got the station, you know,
they do the mud shot at the fingerprints where they
got me to a room with two detectives. I asked
for my lawyer to catches. Angelo of was the lead.
(09:04):
He was the one that questioning your first time in
the first night. So he's like, oh, you know he
wants to cigarette. You want to sigare I'm like no.
He's like, you want a water. I'm like no, and
he catch on China talk to me, and I'm like,
I want my lawyer. I want my lawyer. I want
my lawyer. So he leaves the room and he comes
back and brings back to hold himself. So one of
them one times, I'm like, yo, I'm banging on the door.
(09:26):
Cap comes, He's like, oh what you're banging the dom Like,
I want my phone call. He's like phone call. I'm
like yeah, He's like, are you gonna play phone calls?
We are going. I'm like, where am I going. He's like,
You're going to kill? Why? What the hell? They bring
me from the bus. They chance for me there and
I find out one day the raiment I'm getting charged
with murther I go up into the courtroom, had to
(09:49):
split up. Steffing was on the left side on the
right side, so they reached stuff in his charges seven
both room, possession of a firearm, and I was there.
He goes to Terrell Barrows first degree. It's Paul Michelle
everything I love. I did not do it, he admitted
on the scene to the part that's the part I
(10:10):
don't understand. I don't understand it either, because it should
have been overraped then and there, Okay, the caller has
hung up. I have never and may never again hear
(10:39):
of a case in which the actual shooter skates on
the charges after confessing on the scene. Right, I mean,
at that point, this should be a very short podcast.
That should be the end of it. I mean, this
would be funny, except it's so freaking serious, right, And
this is this is the system that we all rely
(11:01):
on day in and day out. I'd like to believe
that we have people who are doing the job that
they're paid to do. In this case, it's absolutely true.
It failed society, it failed the victim, it failed Terrell.
And that's what we're here to talk about. And then
it gets weirder because then you start with the the eyewitness.
The only eyewitness is a guy named Gregory's or Obedient,
(11:23):
and he initially claims he didn't see the shooting and
then changed his testimony six days before the trial to
say he saw Terrell do it. We have a document
signed by the Assistanttorney General promising not to charge him
for perjury should he alter his testimony. That's maybe just
a little bit of a red flag there. Now get this, Okay,
this Gregory's or obedient guy had, well let's just call
(11:45):
it an extensive criminal history. But that might not even
be doing a justice. So his rap sheet went back
thirty years. It included convictions not arrest, convictions for living
off the earnings of a prostitute, grand larsen d u
I causing death, cocaine possession, burglary, theft, escape, and that's
(12:06):
just the beginning. So do we think that after doing
all these other things he's done, he might be willing
to lie in exchange for a deal. Well, I would
say that's a pretty good likelihood. And then let's get
to Detective Charles Matracia. Do you want to take that one? Jenna?
He was actually the one who claims that he saw
Jamal Cruise nod when they brought over Terrell. I asked
(12:29):
her all I said, were you watching Jamal? He said, yeah,
I was watching him. Did he not He said no,
he didn't do anything, So whether he did or not
is another story. But again, Jamal Cruise was under the
influence of alcohol. He had a b a c of
point one six two, which seems like a lot until
we look at Rokine, who had to actually hire b
A c as well. And then both Stephan and Terrell
(12:49):
were wearing white T shirts and darker pants. Out of
the group that Terrell was in, he was not the
only one with two long black braids. He just wasn't
it was a style. If you look at the pictures
of his friend group, he's not the only one with
two long black braids. And so out of a group
of people wearing white shirts, dark pants, too long black braids,
(13:11):
you're dying on the floor. And Detective Matracia says, yeah,
he nodded when we brought over Terrell. I mean, how
unreal could that be? And so now we're moving into
gs are TESTINGSR stands for gunshot residue, yep, and there
are three particles of gunshot residue that they test for
when they're looking at clothing. So when Stephen and Terrell
(13:32):
were initially arrested, Stephen was, you know, pulled out of
the car and he was slammed against the side of
the car. When Terrell was arrested, he was pulled out
of the car and slammed to the ground. So he
actually had some dirt on his white shirt in a
specific area. What they initially test was the chest area
of both Terrell and of Stephen, because the theory is
(13:57):
if someone is a shooter and they hold the guns
to rate ahead, that the gunshot residue will recoil and
hit them in the chest area. So they talk about
stuff and they go, well, we found lead on stuff,
and and they say, well, you also found lead on Terrell.
So Terrell whispers to his attorney, asked if they happen
to find the lead where my shirt was dirty? They
(14:18):
said yes, So it makes sense that that's the only
place on his clothing where they found lead. So this
is all the information they had in terms of gs
R at trial, but there is more GSR evidence to come,
which is part of what we are motioning for with
the new hearing coming up. Well, we're on initials, right,
We'll go from gs R to d n A. And
(14:39):
the d n A report excluded Tarrell from having held
the gun. So let's touch for a second on the
d n A expert for the state who we know
was well, I mean most unfortunate quote unquote experts are
pro prosecution. In fact, the whole system is pro prosecution.
Over of judges. Our former prosecutors. So throughout the process
(15:01):
there's a tilt towards prosecution, and the experts that you're
seeing may not be objective at all. And this is
one of those cases where I think that's, uh, there's
a strong argument to that effect. Sogenic can you talk
about that? Yeah, Kara Lapino gave extremely pro prosecution testimony,
and the way that she had presented it. The attorney
would ask a question the prosecutor, she would respond to
(15:24):
say yes, and Tarrell was included. And then you all
of a sudden get to the very, very very end
and they really quickly sneak in a couple of lines
of Terrell was excluded and Stephen Boden's d n A
could not be excluded. So when I'm talking to the juror,
she goes, I don't even really remember him being excluded.
It was so confusing. There are a lot of numbers
(15:46):
thrown out. Terrell seemed to be included in almost every
mixture that they're talking about. It's absolutely insane and if
I was in the jury, I would have thought the
same thing. And the state's witness essentially muddy the waters
of what was a pretty cut and dry DNA report
that excluded Terrell from having ever held the gun. But
(16:07):
then there's Rochim Henley, the other guy who got shot
that night. His testimony, along with the ballistic evidence known
at the time of trial, make it an actual and
possibility that Terrell could have been the shooter. He does testify,
and when I asked him the same question when I
met with him, he said, the only person standing close
(16:28):
to Jamal Cruz Wes Stephen Baughden. So I said, here's
the discrepancy. Did you see who shot you? He said no.
I said, okay, well, ballistic evidence proves that the shot
was made from near contact to eighteen inches away, and
you are telling me that the only person standing near
(16:52):
contact to eighteen inches away from Jamal Cruise West Stephen Bauden.
He said yes, but I didn't see him shoot the gun.
It's kind of a confusing testimony. You don't see stuff
and do it, but you also claim you did not
see Terrell outside. You don't know who Terrell is. The
only time he saw Terrell was at trial. So if
(17:13):
Rochim had never seen Terrell and the shot was made
from near contact to eighteen inches away, it is impossible
that Terrell was the shooter. Nevertheless, the incentivized witness, the
muddy DNA report, and of course the testimony of Detective
Matracia were too much to overcome, and Terrell was sent
to two life sentences plus thirty years. This is a
(17:39):
free call from an inmate at maximum security facility. Thank
you for using Securist. You may start the conversation now, Okay.
The investigators in your case, Terrell, it was Detective Attracia
and Detective Angelo. Right. Test A Will was the he
(18:01):
was the leader of the case. Nasasha was the one
that lied about Jamal, saying it was me at the
show up. So what I was told was this from
a lot of lawyers, and they all gave me the
same answer. Y'all are in this situation. They tend this
on you. It's because you asked for your lawyer. I
asked for my way, that's my right. They said, yeah,
(18:22):
but you didn't tell them what they wanted in here,
and they threw it on you. Jamal ain't hire so
you could put any words in that man's mouth you want,
because you can't put him on a stand across examine him.
So what the cops do. They go on the stand
and they think no, they know. They know that the
jury looked at them as superheroes. The jury don't think
(18:44):
that the cops are gonna go on to stand alive,
and that's what they did, and Jamal ain't here. Now
this is before this even going on with George Floyd.
This wasn't like two thousand and two, two thousand and thirteen,
so around that time that climate was like, oh hope,
what we ain't gonna lie on this kid to rally.
(19:04):
You've gone through this um insane nightmare. Everything that could
go wrong has gone wrong so far. But then comes
the moment where the jury goes out and they come
back in. Did you think that they were going to
find you innocent? Tell us about that moment. They gave
me down an elevator to the coal room. They can
just feel like the tension in the court room and
(19:26):
the jail will come in. Their faces are funny. They
said I was guilty, and then everybody, just my family,
everybody was just like, now he's innocent, Like they just
went crazy. I'm just sitting there like and shocked, I
mean shocked. Everybody's standing up. I'm the only one sitting
down and we got me out of the chance as
(19:47):
I've seen Detective Angelo last it. So I said, yo,
what do you think this is funny? They just looked
at me, and I looked at the mall's family and
I turned AROUNDTOI and I said, I didn't do this
to your son. I promise you. I promise you. I
did not do this to your son. I did not
do this. They didn't get justice for your son. They're
(20:10):
lying to you, and they're just looking at me like
in a shock. Everyone's going crazy. So learn that commotion.
I've seen the prosecutor like hug the brother like like
they want a Super Bowl snack in his back, like yeah, yeah,
we got him. I'm just looking at him like you're
lying into this family like this is a big large
You just found an innocent kid guilty for a time again.
(20:31):
Do they just want to pick previction? I know they
know why didn't do it because the prosecutors, you know
when you see bogus charges, but you still go forward
with it because you want a previction. They don't change
you anything. Yeah, they're thinking about their future, their aspirations,
the way they can be successful, and they know that's
(20:53):
by having a good conviction rate by and large. But
It's like it's some sort of six scoreboard, and they're
decent oscars out there. There's some really good ones too.
But the ones that are willing to ignore evidence of
innocence and prosecute clearly bogus cases like yours just to
get another notch on their bell, just to move up
the ladder, are there a disgrace and they're actually a
(21:15):
menace to public safety that the family to make this family? Yeah,
what are you saying? You know? And as if this
(21:40):
case couldn't get worse or weirder. Stephen Boden put out
a song. I guess he was trying to rid himself
of the guilt of skating on the murder rap and
allowing his friend to rotten prison right. He wrote this
song called Letter to Terrell. It's really more of a
guilt trip, saying things like we should have never went
(22:02):
out to the club that night. It's painful that you're
in that cell. It's painful on my mother, and I'm
sorry that you win. That GM is prettful my mother.
But I think about you every day and night. How
is he out? And Terrell's in prison? Steven Boden is
now dead. He was shot in a in a car
shooting in two thousand and seventeen. It's just it's too much.
(22:25):
I mean, um, the good news is he's the only
good news here I guess is that he's got a
fantastic team. Now we've got some momentum. Can you talk
about that new evidence, talk about his new lawyer and
what lays ahead. The original theory was if you hold
a gun straight out in front of you, the GSR
or gunshot residue will fly back and hit the chest area,
(22:49):
as I mentioned before. However, Bob Kando, Terrell's newer attorney,
went ahead and looked at the trajectory of the bullets,
and he had a couple of questions about where the
shot was actually made from. How is it possible that
Rokim didn't see the shooter. How is it possible that
if Jamal gave a dying declaration, that he gave it
(23:10):
to the wrong person. And how is it possible that,
if Stephan is the real shooter, we find only lead
on him. Where are the other particles of gs are?
So Bob Candle goes ahead and puts in a request
for other areas of Boden's clothing to be analyzed. Including
his crotch and belt area. Lo and behold, they come
(23:33):
back with more particles of GSR, which ends up being
huge news. Putting together trajectory of the bullets. Putting together
gs R, Stephen Boden actually took the shots from right
next to his belt. He actually did not hold the
gun straight ahead, So if that were to happen, someone
who's extremely intoxicated wouldn't be able to see the gun.
And when I actually end up speaking to Rokim later,
(23:55):
if I said, well, you know, the new evidence really
says that the gun was next to him he was sponsor,
he goes, oh, that might explain it. So that might
explain why Rochim didn't see that stuff and shot him.
So that's very exciting. And with this new evidence, with
the new affidavit that we have written, new eyewitnesses who
(24:15):
are coming forward, family members of Stephen Boden who are
coming forward and saying, I know Stephen did it. He
told me multiple times. We are taking all of this
and and Bob is pushing for a hearing in September
with a motion for a new trial, and we're hoping
that we can get Tarrell home very soon. And that
leads to what happens now and what can people do.
(24:39):
A mini documentary came out about Terrell Barrows. Please check
it out. The title of it is on YouTube. It's
called Making an Agony Dash the Story of Terrell Barrows.
And then that you'll really see everything that we outlined
throughout this entire podcast um as well as getting to
hear from people who heard from stuff in himself that
(25:00):
he did it. And then there's also a change dot
org petition that sends a letter to the governor who
has been pretty vocal about you know, the BLM movement
and everything that's happening right now. So we're hoping that
shall also hop onto this change dot org slash free
Terrell Barrow. So it's change dot org slash free Terrell
(25:20):
Barrows are wonderful. Producers have put the link in the
podcast description so you can just scroll down on whatever
platform you're listening to. Please share it on social media.
Tell people listen to the episode, watch video content that's
out there. We can win this. So now this is
(25:41):
the part where I get to thank our guests in
this case and or Jenna Handy, thank you for being here,
and of course Terrell Barrows. We're here for you. I'm
going to fight for you, and thank you as well
for sharing your thoughts with us. Now I'm going to
turn off my microphone, picked back in my chair and
(26:02):
let Georgena Handy share her final thoughts in the segment
we call closing arguments. Terrell is an amazing man. I
could go on and on about who he is as
a person, the character that he has in the change
that he will make when he is brought home. And
it has been such an honor to be in his life,
(26:24):
to be in his mother's life, to be in his
attorney's life, and I'm hoping that we can prove Terrell's
innocence and bring him home to his mom, to his family,
into society where he belongs and where I am one
thousand percent sure that he was going to make a difference.
This is not the end and it's definitely not the beginning.
(26:45):
This you know, story with Terrell has happened many times
in the past and unfortunately will continue to happen unless
people like me, like you Jason, come together and bring
Terrell home. And now UM over to you, Terrell. Um again,
thank you for being here, and thank you for your
courage and your spirit Um hanging there. We're all out
(27:07):
here rooting for you and more importantly fighting for you.
So now over to you for closing arguments. I just
want to thank everybody for listening, and I want to
start off thinking Jason from forgive me this platform to
explain my situation. We need people like Jason, Mark Howard,
Marty Tank, with the Georgetown students, the genre, Leo Caroline,
(27:33):
they are fighting so hard for me. My attorney or
Robert Kendell. Just want to thank him for being there
for me and really really fighting for me because he
knows I'm really innocent. You know. I also got to
think the two main women of my wife, my mother,
and we shall um it wasn't for and we shall
reaching over to Mark how with that, none of this
(27:55):
right now, this interview, the documentary, the petition, none of
this would be going on right now because for her,
I want to thank my mother for always being there
for me. Her stress is where I get it from.
Well right here, I'm innocent, and she told me to fight, fight,
fight until I get my freedom. I'm gonna post convincing
(28:16):
avant coming up, and I'm fighting for a new child,
and I'm fighting for freedom. I need your help. I
just need as most people to sign this petition. You
have one minute left. I spread the word. We need allies.
There's a lot of us in here that are voiceless,
(28:37):
and I am blessed to have the family. I have
to have this voice to speak because it's given me
a platform to speak for the voices in this present.
I feel like people applying my life for a reason.
I know that I'm going to get out of jail
and I gotta fight on the fight line for people
(28:57):
are innocent present because it has to stop. These possibly
to be held a honable. They're not just killing us
in the streets, they're killing us in these courts and
there's no consequences when they thought they need to be accomplished.
(29:17):
Too many people in prison system what their life took
me for though they didn't. It has to stop. Don't
forget to give us a fantastic review wherever you get
your podcasts. It really helps. And I'm a proud donor
(29:41):
to the Innocence Project, and I really hope you'll join
me in supporting this very important cause and helping to
prevent future wrong for convictions. Go to Innocence Project dot org.
To learn how to donate and get involved. I'd like
to thank our production team, Connor Hall and Kevin Wordis.
The music in the show is by three time OSCAR
nominee composed Sir Jay Ralph. Be sure to follow us
(30:02):
on Instagram at brown Full Conviction and on Facebook at
Grown Fuel Conviction podcast. Brown Ful Conviction with Jason Flam
is a production of Lava for Good Podcasts and association
with Signal Company Number one
August two thousand and twelve started off as a relatively
normal night. Terrell Barrows was at Money Lounge and Providence,
Rhode Island with Stephen Boden and some other friends, and
disagreement ensued between Stephen and two other clubgoers, Rokim Henley
and Jamal Cruz, but the tension didn't boil over until
(00:21):
later in the parking lot. See Stephen Boden wanted his
cigarettes and he would ask Toorell for his car keys
because that's where they were, So he left ahead of
the group, and as fate would have it, who was
parked right next to Terrell, but Jamal and Rookie, who
were now ominously approaching Terrell and the rest of his friends. Though,
we're just arriving on the scene and trying to avoid
(00:44):
the drama, so Terrell made for the driver's side door,
and then gunshots. Terrell quickly ducked into the driver's seat
and Stephen Boden jumped into the passenger side. Seconds later,
the cops were at the car and they saw Stephen
trying to hide the gun. Stephen confessed on the spot
to the shooting. Has Both men were coughed and intoxicated
(01:07):
and mortally wounded Jamal Cruz and put his head down
when shown Terrell a far cry from an identification, but
that didn't stop a detective from testifying a trial about
a quote unquote dying declaration. The state even ignored Stephen
Boton's immediate and uncoerced confession forging blindly ahead to ultimately
(01:29):
sent Darrell to prison, where he remains to this day,
serving two consecutive life sentences plus thirty years. This is
Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flom. Welcome back to Wrongful Conviction
(01:52):
with Jason Flom. Today we're going to be discussing the
really troubling case of Terrell Barrows, who was honesfully convicted
of shooting in which one person was killed and another
was badly injured. And with us today we have a
student at Georgetown who's been doing incredible work investigating his
case under the leadership of my friend, Professor Mark Howard.
(02:15):
So New Genna Hendy, welcome to the show, Thank you, Jason.
The Georgetown class that New Jenna is a student in
is taught by Mark Howard and a name that you'll
recognize him being on our show more than once. Marty
Tankliff and of course, this class was directly responsible for
the exoneration of Valentino Dixon. If you haven't heard his episode,
(02:38):
please go back and listen to it. It's extraordinary. So
we hope to be hearing from Terrell Barrows very soon.
Of course, in this COVID time that we're in, it's
very hard to get to the phones in prison, but
we will be discussing his case and hopefully hearing from
him as the podcast progresses. So let's go back to toot.
(03:01):
Back in August of two thousand and twelve, Terrell Barrows
and a group of friends headed out to Money Lounge
in Providence, Rhode Island. While they're in the club, there's
some sort of verbal altercation between Terrell's group and a
couple of members of another group, including the two that
got shot. One was Rokim Henley, who got shot in
(03:22):
the leg and who I spoke with a couple of
times over the past few months, and then Jamal Cruz
who ended up dying that night. But Tarrell wasn't a
part of that verbal altercation. It was Stephen Baden who was.
And so a name was called, someone's hat got tapped
off their head, and then no one really stays. There's
not a physical altercation at all. Later on in the night,
(03:43):
Stephen Boughten Asterrell. He goes, hey, let me get the tactico.
Get your car keys. So as he's heading over, there
is another car that has parked bumper to bumper with
Terrell's car, and it just happens to be the car
of Jamal Cruise. Stephen thought that Jamal and row Kim
(04:04):
were coming to cause problems when reality they were just
walking to their car stuff and grabs the gun and
you know, witnesses say he told them don't come any closer.
And at this point Torrell starts heading over to his
car with his group of friends. Terrell is about ten
of fifteen feet away from Stephen Bowden in Jamal Cruise,
(04:25):
which is where all I witnesses placed them as well,
And he's actually walking to get to the other side
of his car to hop in the driver's seat because
he knows that there's trouble about to happen he doesn't
want to be a part of it. He hears two gunshots,
he jumps into the driver's seat and almost immediately Stephan
jumps into the passenger seat and the cops are there
to arrest them. And there's more to this too, because
(04:47):
when Stephan jumped into the passenger seat, he had a
sort of a moment of self awareness right where he
started apologizing to Terrell for sort of involving him in
the Yeah, you know. At this point, the arresting officers
are on either side and the gun is still with
stuff in boden. He has caught concealing the gun in
(05:10):
the passenger side door, and Stephen actually confesses on the scene.
He said, it's me, It's all me, it's all mine. Yeah.
They are both arrested, taken to a patty wagon, and
then there's a show up that is done. Now they
spoke with a couple of jury members who told me
this is what caused us to believe Darrell is guilty.
(05:33):
So in the show ups, they bring Stephan over to Jamal,
who was in critical condition on the floor, extremely intoxicated,
and they say, is this the man that shot you?
And Jamal looks away. Apparently when they bring over Terrell,
Detective Matracia says, Jamal nods, that's what they say he did.
(05:53):
It doesn't matter if he nodded or not. He was
in no position to make any identification of anyone, and
we still don't know if he did. Is that like
he stuck his finger out and went, yeah, that's the
guy who shot me, and he's out right, that's not
what happened. They actually did not even do a show
up identification with the other guy, ro Kim Henley, who
was shot and he was not in critical condition. They
(06:15):
also didn't bother to swab the hands of either Terrell
or Stephen, right, that would be so critical to figuring
out who did or did not commit this horrible crime.
And Jason, I think it was clear to arresting officers
this had to have been Stephen. It was in his hand,
he confesses. That's probably why they didn't even swab their hands.
(06:36):
And then you know, somehow the story gets twisted and
it's it's now in Terrell because of what they call
a dying declaration. Terrell always says, he goes, there were
two lives lost that night, Mine and Jamal Cruise, and
I feel bad because Jamal Cruise didn't get justice. Is
(06:57):
a free call from an inmate at maximum security facility.
Thank you for using securist. You may start the conversation now. Hello,
Hey Terrell, thanks for calling in. I know we have
limited time, so let's you get right to it. Can
you take us back to the awful night of this
(07:19):
crime and give us your perspective, having lived through this
nightmare yourself. Well back at that night, and the two
dudes approached, you know, talking to m Steffing about something.
The problem was with me. So we went outside on
the front of the club, step from one of my
keys to go get a cigarettes. So when we go
to the path, the two dudes approaching. So I see
(07:40):
them two dudes. Oh my god, man, here we go.
So I turned around to go the job inside of
the car and I hear shocks. So I just run
into my car. So got onto my car. Pop is
like a us he had to gun on me and
put your hand understand Will. I put my hand to
understand Will, and he keeps on saying it what are
you talking to? Stuff in So he puts his hands
(08:01):
on the stand wheel and he's like, yo, I'm sorry,
I'm sorry. I love y'all, love you. The police officers
tapping open, He's like, oh yo, the passinger's got the gun.
So as soon as he opens up the door, Stephan says,
it's me. It saw me, it's all mine. He's like
it's shoot. He's like, yeah, it's me. So when he
took him out, he's already hetting come from the other
pop they had the gun on us. He comes, he
(08:22):
flashed puss on the wrist, my wrist and swings me
on the floor, brings it back to the Patty Wagon.
There's about held shot. I didn't know no one was shot.
I could see blood every this dude shirt. So this
dude shot in the chest and this dude is like
doing a show up with this guy shot in the chest,
asking him this in the sin the sin. The guy
(08:42):
just looked at me and put his head down. He
didn't say nothing, he didn't do nothing. He is saying nothing.
He just put his head down. So then they had
put me back into patty wagon. They bring me back
to the station. When we got the station, you know,
they do the mud shot at the fingerprints where they
got me to a room with two detectives. I asked
for my lawyer to catches. Angelo of was the lead.
(09:04):
He was the one that questioning your first time in
the first night. So he's like, oh, you know he
wants to cigarette. You want to sigare I'm like no.
He's like, you want a water. I'm like no, and
he catch on China talk to me, and I'm like,
I want my lawyer. I want my lawyer. I want
my lawyer. So he leaves the room and he comes
back and brings back to hold himself. So one of
them one times, I'm like, yo, I'm banging on the door.
(09:26):
Cap comes, He's like, oh what you're banging the dom Like,
I want my phone call. He's like phone call. I'm
like yeah, He's like, are you gonna play phone calls?
We are going. I'm like, where am I going. He's like,
You're going to kill? Why? What the hell? They bring
me from the bus. They chance for me there and
I find out one day the raiment I'm getting charged
with murther I go up into the courtroom, had to
(09:49):
split up. Steffing was on the left side on the
right side, so they reached stuff in his charges seven
both room, possession of a firearm, and I was there.
He goes to Terrell Barrows first degree. It's Paul Michelle
everything I love. I did not do it, he admitted
on the scene to the part that's the part I
(10:10):
don't understand. I don't understand it either, because it should
have been overraped then and there, Okay, the caller has
hung up. I have never and may never again hear
(10:39):
of a case in which the actual shooter skates on
the charges after confessing on the scene. Right, I mean,
at that point, this should be a very short podcast.
That should be the end of it. I mean, this
would be funny, except it's so freaking serious, right, And
this is this is the system that we all rely
(11:01):
on day in and day out. I'd like to believe
that we have people who are doing the job that
they're paid to do. In this case, it's absolutely true.
It failed society, it failed the victim, it failed Terrell.
And that's what we're here to talk about. And then
it gets weirder because then you start with the the eyewitness.
The only eyewitness is a guy named Gregory's or Obedient,
(11:23):
and he initially claims he didn't see the shooting and
then changed his testimony six days before the trial to
say he saw Terrell do it. We have a document
signed by the Assistanttorney General promising not to charge him
for perjury should he alter his testimony. That's maybe just
a little bit of a red flag there. Now get this, Okay,
this Gregory's or obedient guy had, well let's just call
(11:45):
it an extensive criminal history. But that might not even
be doing a justice. So his rap sheet went back
thirty years. It included convictions not arrest, convictions for living
off the earnings of a prostitute, grand larsen d u
I causing death, cocaine possession, burglary, theft, escape, and that's
(12:06):
just the beginning. So do we think that after doing
all these other things he's done, he might be willing
to lie in exchange for a deal. Well, I would
say that's a pretty good likelihood. And then let's get
to Detective Charles Matracia. Do you want to take that one? Jenna?
He was actually the one who claims that he saw
Jamal Cruise nod when they brought over Terrell. I asked
(12:29):
her all I said, were you watching Jamal? He said, yeah,
I was watching him. Did he not He said no,
he didn't do anything, So whether he did or not
is another story. But again, Jamal Cruise was under the
influence of alcohol. He had a b a c of
point one six two, which seems like a lot until
we look at Rokine, who had to actually hire b
A c as well. And then both Stephan and Terrell
(12:49):
were wearing white T shirts and darker pants. Out of
the group that Terrell was in, he was not the
only one with two long black braids. He just wasn't
it was a style. If you look at the pictures
of his friend group, he's not the only one with
two long black braids. And so out of a group
of people wearing white shirts, dark pants, too long black braids,
(13:11):
you're dying on the floor. And Detective Matracia says, yeah,
he nodded when we brought over Terrell. I mean, how
unreal could that be? And so now we're moving into
gs are TESTINGSR stands for gunshot residue, yep, and there
are three particles of gunshot residue that they test for
when they're looking at clothing. So when Stephen and Terrell
(13:32):
were initially arrested, Stephen was, you know, pulled out of
the car and he was slammed against the side of
the car. When Terrell was arrested, he was pulled out
of the car and slammed to the ground. So he
actually had some dirt on his white shirt in a
specific area. What they initially test was the chest area
of both Terrell and of Stephen, because the theory is
(13:57):
if someone is a shooter and they hold the guns
to rate ahead, that the gunshot residue will recoil and
hit them in the chest area. So they talk about
stuff and they go, well, we found lead on stuff,
and and they say, well, you also found lead on Terrell.
So Terrell whispers to his attorney, asked if they happen
to find the lead where my shirt was dirty? They
(14:18):
said yes, So it makes sense that that's the only
place on his clothing where they found lead. So this
is all the information they had in terms of gs
R at trial, but there is more GSR evidence to come,
which is part of what we are motioning for with
the new hearing coming up. Well, we're on initials, right,
We'll go from gs R to d n A. And
(14:39):
the d n A report excluded Tarrell from having held
the gun. So let's touch for a second on the
d n A expert for the state who we know
was well, I mean most unfortunate quote unquote experts are
pro prosecution. In fact, the whole system is pro prosecution.
Over of judges. Our former prosecutors. So throughout the process
(15:01):
there's a tilt towards prosecution, and the experts that you're
seeing may not be objective at all. And this is
one of those cases where I think that's, uh, there's
a strong argument to that effect. Sogenic can you talk
about that? Yeah, Kara Lapino gave extremely pro prosecution testimony,
and the way that she had presented it. The attorney
would ask a question the prosecutor, she would respond to
(15:24):
say yes, and Tarrell was included. And then you all
of a sudden get to the very, very very end
and they really quickly sneak in a couple of lines
of Terrell was excluded and Stephen Boden's d n A
could not be excluded. So when I'm talking to the juror,
she goes, I don't even really remember him being excluded.
It was so confusing. There are a lot of numbers
(15:46):
thrown out. Terrell seemed to be included in almost every
mixture that they're talking about. It's absolutely insane and if
I was in the jury, I would have thought the
same thing. And the state's witness essentially muddy the waters
of what was a pretty cut and dry DNA report
that excluded Terrell from having ever held the gun. But
(16:07):
then there's Rochim Henley, the other guy who got shot
that night. His testimony, along with the ballistic evidence known
at the time of trial, make it an actual and
possibility that Terrell could have been the shooter. He does testify,
and when I asked him the same question when I
met with him, he said, the only person standing close
(16:28):
to Jamal Cruz Wes Stephen Baughden. So I said, here's
the discrepancy. Did you see who shot you? He said no.
I said, okay, well, ballistic evidence proves that the shot
was made from near contact to eighteen inches away, and
you are telling me that the only person standing near
(16:52):
contact to eighteen inches away from Jamal Cruise West Stephen Bauden.
He said yes, but I didn't see him shoot the gun.
It's kind of a confusing testimony. You don't see stuff
and do it, but you also claim you did not
see Terrell outside. You don't know who Terrell is. The
only time he saw Terrell was at trial. So if
(17:13):
Rochim had never seen Terrell and the shot was made
from near contact to eighteen inches away, it is impossible
that Terrell was the shooter. Nevertheless, the incentivized witness, the
muddy DNA report, and of course the testimony of Detective
Matracia were too much to overcome, and Terrell was sent
to two life sentences plus thirty years. This is a
(17:39):
free call from an inmate at maximum security facility. Thank
you for using Securist. You may start the conversation now, Okay.
The investigators in your case, Terrell, it was Detective Attracia
and Detective Angelo. Right. Test A Will was the he
(18:01):
was the leader of the case. Nasasha was the one
that lied about Jamal, saying it was me at the
show up. So what I was told was this from
a lot of lawyers, and they all gave me the
same answer. Y'all are in this situation. They tend this
on you. It's because you asked for your lawyer. I
asked for my way, that's my right. They said, yeah,
(18:22):
but you didn't tell them what they wanted in here,
and they threw it on you. Jamal ain't hire so
you could put any words in that man's mouth you want,
because you can't put him on a stand across examine him.
So what the cops do. They go on the stand
and they think no, they know. They know that the
jury looked at them as superheroes. The jury don't think
(18:44):
that the cops are gonna go on to stand alive,
and that's what they did, and Jamal ain't here. Now
this is before this even going on with George Floyd.
This wasn't like two thousand and two, two thousand and thirteen,
so around that time that climate was like, oh hope,
what we ain't gonna lie on this kid to rally.
(19:04):
You've gone through this um insane nightmare. Everything that could
go wrong has gone wrong so far. But then comes
the moment where the jury goes out and they come
back in. Did you think that they were going to
find you innocent? Tell us about that moment. They gave
me down an elevator to the coal room. They can
just feel like the tension in the court room and
(19:26):
the jail will come in. Their faces are funny. They
said I was guilty, and then everybody, just my family,
everybody was just like, now he's innocent, Like they just
went crazy. I'm just sitting there like and shocked, I
mean shocked. Everybody's standing up. I'm the only one sitting
down and we got me out of the chance as
(19:47):
I've seen Detective Angelo last it. So I said, yo,
what do you think this is funny? They just looked
at me, and I looked at the mall's family and
I turned AROUNDTOI and I said, I didn't do this
to your son. I promise you. I promise you. I
did not do this to your son. I did not
do this. They didn't get justice for your son. They're
(20:10):
lying to you, and they're just looking at me like
in a shock. Everyone's going crazy. So learn that commotion.
I've seen the prosecutor like hug the brother like like
they want a Super Bowl snack in his back, like yeah, yeah,
we got him. I'm just looking at him like you're
lying into this family like this is a big large
You just found an innocent kid guilty for a time again.
(20:31):
Do they just want to pick previction? I know they
know why didn't do it because the prosecutors, you know
when you see bogus charges, but you still go forward
with it because you want a previction. They don't change
you anything. Yeah, they're thinking about their future, their aspirations,
the way they can be successful, and they know that's
(20:53):
by having a good conviction rate by and large. But
It's like it's some sort of six scoreboard, and they're
decent oscars out there. There's some really good ones too.
But the ones that are willing to ignore evidence of
innocence and prosecute clearly bogus cases like yours just to
get another notch on their bell, just to move up
the ladder, are there a disgrace and they're actually a
(21:15):
menace to public safety that the family to make this family? Yeah,
what are you saying? You know? And as if this
(21:40):
case couldn't get worse or weirder. Stephen Boden put out
a song. I guess he was trying to rid himself
of the guilt of skating on the murder rap and
allowing his friend to rotten prison right. He wrote this
song called Letter to Terrell. It's really more of a
guilt trip, saying things like we should have never went
(22:02):
out to the club that night. It's painful that you're
in that cell. It's painful on my mother, and I'm
sorry that you win. That GM is prettful my mother.
But I think about you every day and night. How
is he out? And Terrell's in prison? Steven Boden is
now dead. He was shot in a in a car
shooting in two thousand and seventeen. It's just it's too much.
(22:25):
I mean, um, the good news is he's the only
good news here I guess is that he's got a
fantastic team. Now we've got some momentum. Can you talk
about that new evidence, talk about his new lawyer and
what lays ahead. The original theory was if you hold
a gun straight out in front of you, the GSR
or gunshot residue will fly back and hit the chest area,
(22:49):
as I mentioned before. However, Bob Kando, Terrell's newer attorney,
went ahead and looked at the trajectory of the bullets,
and he had a couple of questions about where the
shot was actually made from. How is it possible that
Rokim didn't see the shooter. How is it possible that
if Jamal gave a dying declaration, that he gave it
(23:10):
to the wrong person. And how is it possible that,
if Stephan is the real shooter, we find only lead
on him. Where are the other particles of gs are?
So Bob Candle goes ahead and puts in a request
for other areas of Boden's clothing to be analyzed. Including
his crotch and belt area. Lo and behold, they come
(23:33):
back with more particles of GSR, which ends up being
huge news. Putting together trajectory of the bullets. Putting together
gs R, Stephen Boden actually took the shots from right
next to his belt. He actually did not hold the
gun straight ahead, So if that were to happen, someone
who's extremely intoxicated wouldn't be able to see the gun.
And when I actually end up speaking to Rokim later,
(23:55):
if I said, well, you know, the new evidence really
says that the gun was next to him he was sponsor,
he goes, oh, that might explain it. So that might
explain why Rochim didn't see that stuff and shot him.
So that's very exciting. And with this new evidence, with
the new affidavit that we have written, new eyewitnesses who
(24:15):
are coming forward, family members of Stephen Boden who are
coming forward and saying, I know Stephen did it. He
told me multiple times. We are taking all of this
and and Bob is pushing for a hearing in September
with a motion for a new trial, and we're hoping
that we can get Tarrell home very soon. And that
leads to what happens now and what can people do.
(24:39):
A mini documentary came out about Terrell Barrows. Please check
it out. The title of it is on YouTube. It's
called Making an Agony Dash the Story of Terrell Barrows.
And then that you'll really see everything that we outlined
throughout this entire podcast um as well as getting to
hear from people who heard from stuff in himself that
(25:00):
he did it. And then there's also a change dot
org petition that sends a letter to the governor who
has been pretty vocal about you know, the BLM movement
and everything that's happening right now. So we're hoping that
shall also hop onto this change dot org slash free
Terrell Barrow. So it's change dot org slash free Terrell
(25:20):
Barrows are wonderful. Producers have put the link in the
podcast description so you can just scroll down on whatever
platform you're listening to. Please share it on social media.
Tell people listen to the episode, watch video content that's
out there. We can win this. So now this is
(25:41):
the part where I get to thank our guests in
this case and or Jenna Handy, thank you for being here,
and of course Terrell Barrows. We're here for you. I'm
going to fight for you, and thank you as well
for sharing your thoughts with us. Now I'm going to
turn off my microphone, picked back in my chair and
(26:02):
let Georgena Handy share her final thoughts in the segment
we call closing arguments. Terrell is an amazing man. I
could go on and on about who he is as
a person, the character that he has in the change
that he will make when he is brought home. And
it has been such an honor to be in his life,
(26:24):
to be in his mother's life, to be in his
attorney's life, and I'm hoping that we can prove Terrell's
innocence and bring him home to his mom, to his family,
into society where he belongs and where I am one
thousand percent sure that he was going to make a difference.
This is not the end and it's definitely not the beginning.
(26:45):
This you know, story with Terrell has happened many times
in the past and unfortunately will continue to happen unless
people like me, like you Jason, come together and bring
Terrell home. And now UM over to you, Terrell. Um again,
thank you for being here, and thank you for your
courage and your spirit Um hanging there. We're all out
(27:07):
here rooting for you and more importantly fighting for you.
So now over to you for closing arguments. I just
want to thank everybody for listening, and I want to
start off thinking Jason from forgive me this platform to
explain my situation. We need people like Jason, Mark Howard,
Marty Tank, with the Georgetown students, the genre, Leo Caroline,
(27:33):
they are fighting so hard for me. My attorney or
Robert Kendell. Just want to thank him for being there
for me and really really fighting for me because he
knows I'm really innocent. You know. I also got to
think the two main women of my wife, my mother,
and we shall um it wasn't for and we shall
reaching over to Mark how with that, none of this
(27:55):
right now, this interview, the documentary, the petition, none of
this would be going on right now because for her,
I want to thank my mother for always being there
for me. Her stress is where I get it from.
Well right here, I'm innocent, and she told me to fight, fight,
fight until I get my freedom. I'm gonna post convincing
(28:16):
avant coming up, and I'm fighting for a new child,
and I'm fighting for freedom. I need your help. I
just need as most people to sign this petition. You
have one minute left. I spread the word. We need allies.
There's a lot of us in here that are voiceless,
(28:37):
and I am blessed to have the family. I have
to have this voice to speak because it's given me
a platform to speak for the voices in this present.
I feel like people applying my life for a reason.
I know that I'm going to get out of jail
and I gotta fight on the fight line for people
(28:57):
are innocent present because it has to stop. These possibly
to be held a honable. They're not just killing us
in the streets, they're killing us in these courts and
there's no consequences when they thought they need to be accomplished.
(29:17):
Too many people in prison system what their life took
me for though they didn't. It has to stop. Don't
forget to give us a fantastic review wherever you get
your podcasts. It really helps. And I'm a proud donor
(29:41):
to the Innocence Project, and I really hope you'll join
me in supporting this very important cause and helping to
prevent future wrong for convictions. Go to Innocence Project dot org.
To learn how to donate and get involved. I'd like
to thank our production team, Connor Hall and Kevin Wordis.
The music in the show is by three time OSCAR
nominee composed Sir Jay Ralph. Be sure to follow us
(30:02):
on Instagram at brown Full Conviction and on Facebook at
Grown Fuel Conviction podcast. Brown Ful Conviction with Jason Flam
is a production of Lava for Good Podcasts and association
with Signal Company Number one
Hosts And Creators
Lauren Bright Pacheco
Maggie Freleng
Jason Flom
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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.
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Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.