0:00:02 > 0:00:10This programme contains some strong language and scenes which some viewers may find upsetting.
0:00:12 > 0:00:14Time.
0:00:14 > 0:00:16This is the strangest one.
0:00:18 > 0:00:22Do you know that the worst part
0:00:22 > 0:00:26and yet the best part of being in solitary confinement is
0:00:26 > 0:00:30time can be a blisteringly fast thing,
0:00:30 > 0:00:32where in the blink of an eye,
0:00:32 > 0:00:35you can look, and ten years are gone from your life.
0:00:35 > 0:00:37But the next week is agony.
0:00:39 > 0:00:42It's like you look at your wristwatch
0:00:42 > 0:00:48and instead of there being a face, there's a calendar and it flips.
0:00:48 > 0:00:51But then, if you look out the window,
0:00:51 > 0:00:53it takes all day for that sun to go down.
0:00:55 > 0:00:57HE INHALES
0:00:57 > 0:00:58I always wanted to tell somebody that.
0:03:05 > 0:03:07We got into the prison about 11.00am.
0:03:08 > 0:03:11They took all the other prisoners off this bus
0:03:11 > 0:03:14and then four men came on.
0:03:14 > 0:03:16They lined up against this red brick wall...
0:03:18 > 0:03:19..and here comes Lieutenant Borner.
0:03:22 > 0:03:23He walked right up to me,
0:03:23 > 0:03:26right up to my face - he was like very quiet, like...
0:03:27 > 0:03:30"There's no speaking in my prison.
0:03:30 > 0:03:34"Dead men do not speak in my prison, especially. Do you understand me?"
0:03:34 > 0:03:39Just like that, same tone of voice. Nothing raised, nothing threatening.
0:03:40 > 0:03:44And that Lord quietness...I did, I went to answer. I was like, "B..."
0:03:46 > 0:03:48Backhanded me right in the mouth.
0:03:49 > 0:03:51It like stung like you wouldn't believe.
0:03:51 > 0:03:53DOOR SLAMS
0:03:54 > 0:03:59And then I was thrown into this world where there's no sunlight
0:03:59 > 0:04:01and it's deadly silent.
0:04:09 > 0:04:12You see, the Pennsylvania prison system was developed by the Quakers.
0:04:15 > 0:04:18The doors were cut low, so you had to stoop and bow to go into them...
0:04:20 > 0:04:23..and while you were in the cell, you were meant not to communicate.
0:04:23 > 0:04:25It was part of your punishment.
0:04:27 > 0:04:28And it was eerie,
0:04:28 > 0:04:33because of almost 140 men at the time in B Block, no-one spoke.
0:04:35 > 0:04:38You'd hear them cough or urinate and flush the toilet
0:04:38 > 0:04:39but there was no real sound.
0:04:41 > 0:04:43And that was the worst for me,
0:04:43 > 0:04:45especially the first couple of months.
0:04:49 > 0:04:52You still can hear your mother crying at the trial.
0:04:52 > 0:04:56You can still smell the aftershave on the witnesses, man -
0:04:56 > 0:04:59I mean, like it's just every little detail's just eating your life,
0:04:59 > 0:05:02because you've just been put here.
0:05:02 > 0:05:04The door was just still ringing in your ears cos of the slam
0:05:04 > 0:05:06and you're just left there, and you're like...
0:05:06 > 0:05:08HE INHALES SHARPLY
0:05:10 > 0:05:13And yet, like, you don't come to your door
0:05:13 > 0:05:16and talk to a neighbour, cos if you broke the speaking rule,
0:05:16 > 0:05:19you were struck or beaten by the guards.
0:05:26 > 0:05:30In level five, you were allowed to exercise
0:05:30 > 0:05:34in these dog-kennel like cages, 19 feet long, ten feet wide.
0:05:37 > 0:05:40You got an hour to exercise by yourself,
0:05:40 > 0:05:42cos you were a death-row prisoner.
0:05:42 > 0:05:45But the guards, being pricks -
0:05:45 > 0:05:50if you had a problem with another guy, and they knew you were enemies,
0:05:50 > 0:05:54they'd put you in a cage together, knowing that
0:05:54 > 0:05:56as soon as they'd walked off a few steps,
0:05:56 > 0:05:57you two were going to go at it.
0:05:57 > 0:06:00And if that didn't work, they simply picked out two big guys,
0:06:00 > 0:06:03and put them in together.
0:06:03 > 0:06:05And they had some fun.
0:06:05 > 0:06:07Usually it was a white guy with a black guy,
0:06:07 > 0:06:11Spanish guy with a black guy, Spanish guy with a white guy.
0:06:13 > 0:06:15Gladiatoring, they called it.
0:06:20 > 0:06:26SHOWER STARTS
0:06:26 > 0:06:28The shower was the most vulnerable time.
0:06:29 > 0:06:33If you were going to get somebody, that's the place to get them.
0:06:33 > 0:06:37You got access to them, there's no handcuffs, and they're naked.
0:06:37 > 0:06:41SHOWER RUNS
0:06:43 > 0:06:47I had only been there a few days and I walked into the shower
0:06:47 > 0:06:50and just as I turned the corner, there was a Puerto Rican boy
0:06:50 > 0:06:52and he had sharpened a pork chop bone
0:06:52 > 0:06:56and then stabbed this man in the back of the liver with it and
0:06:56 > 0:07:00the guy started flopping, and then they just cut all the water off
0:07:00 > 0:07:04and just beat all six of us senseless and drug us back out of the shower.
0:07:09 > 0:07:11And then they served food.
0:07:11 > 0:07:15Like they got everything cleaned up and began serving lunch
0:07:15 > 0:07:17and it went on as a routine day.
0:07:17 > 0:07:22CANTEEN CHATTER
0:07:22 > 0:07:24And two guys were arguing, cos one guy didn't get enough
0:07:24 > 0:07:26bread on his tray and I'm like - this is crazy!
0:07:26 > 0:07:29You're so whacked out of your mind that you're going to
0:07:29 > 0:07:33call down to that guard, "Hey, man! I only got one slice of bread on my tray,"
0:07:33 > 0:07:35when a human being just died!
0:07:47 > 0:07:50I lived in silence.
0:07:50 > 0:07:52For two whole years.
0:07:52 > 0:07:54The first two years.
0:07:55 > 0:07:59And that's when the drugs were discovered in the choir room.
0:07:59 > 0:08:01And everything changed.
0:08:03 > 0:08:06These prisoners from the choir were locked up with us
0:08:06 > 0:08:08in empty cells on death row.
0:08:09 > 0:08:14And because none of them were going to tell where the drugs came from,
0:08:14 > 0:08:19they were going to ship all of them to individual different prisons.
0:08:20 > 0:08:23To the other eight members of the choir, it really didn't matter.
0:08:26 > 0:08:30But two of the men had a bond that was special. Wesley and Butch.
0:08:31 > 0:08:36Wesley was this fair-skinned, green-eyed beautiful black guy
0:08:36 > 0:08:40who just exuded this eloquence and sweetness about him.
0:08:40 > 0:08:41Everyone liked him.
0:08:43 > 0:08:46And he had a voice that was gravelly and wondrous.
0:08:48 > 0:08:50He had met Butch when they were children in the church
0:08:50 > 0:08:53in West Philadelphia, where Butch was a foster child.
0:08:55 > 0:08:59Obviously, Wesley was gay and they formed this bond that seemed
0:08:59 > 0:09:01to like be invulnerable.
0:09:01 > 0:09:05And then, Butch began stealing and getting in trouble
0:09:05 > 0:09:09and he was arrested and thrown into county prison in Philadelphia
0:09:09 > 0:09:10and Wesley went nuts without him.
0:09:10 > 0:09:13He was the only thing in his life that protected him
0:09:13 > 0:09:16from the scorn of his parents, the bullies in the neighbourhood,
0:09:16 > 0:09:19the people who knew he was weak without Butch.
0:09:19 > 0:09:21So he began committing deliberate crimes
0:09:21 > 0:09:25and getting arrested so that he could be with Butch
0:09:25 > 0:09:30and they found out prison was the one place they could be normal.
0:09:30 > 0:09:34They got themselves put into the same cell and together,
0:09:34 > 0:09:38in the setting of a prison, where homosexuality is an accepted
0:09:38 > 0:09:43form of expression, or just life, no-one bothered them.
0:09:45 > 0:09:48And that's when the drugs were discovered and the guard
0:09:48 > 0:09:51on duty at nine o'clock that night started tormenting Wesley.
0:09:51 > 0:09:54"Hey, faggot, you're going.
0:09:54 > 0:09:57"Your boy's going to Western. I just looked on the transfer sheet.
0:09:57 > 0:09:58"You're going to Dallas.
0:09:58 > 0:10:02"Opposite ends of the State of Pennsylvania. Bye, nigger!"
0:10:05 > 0:10:09And I guess Wesley went crazy in the cell.
0:10:09 > 0:10:12Cos about 40 minutes later, just before ten o'clock, there was
0:10:12 > 0:10:15like 20 minutes left before shift change at 10.00pm.
0:10:16 > 0:10:20This voice took over.
0:10:20 > 0:10:25# Ah, oooh
0:10:25 > 0:10:26# Yeah
0:10:26 > 0:10:32# I have a dream, the dream Of every common man... #
0:10:32 > 0:10:36Every man on that block just stood still.
0:10:36 > 0:10:40# I have sworn by my blood as your man, my love... #
0:10:40 > 0:10:42We knew the penalty.
0:10:42 > 0:10:47# That one day, I promise one day all of your heartaches would stop... #
0:10:47 > 0:10:50Then you heard the keys. HE MIMICS RATTLE OF KEYS
0:10:50 > 0:10:52The footsteps behind it.
0:10:52 > 0:10:54"What the fuck are you doing, singing in my block?
0:10:54 > 0:10:59"I will beat your head in. If you don't stop that singing right now, I will beat your head in."
0:10:59 > 0:11:04# Oh, thanks to you baby
0:11:04 > 0:11:07- SINGER LAUGHS - # For just loving a common man... #
0:11:07 > 0:11:10- More keys. - # I want to thank you this evening, honey... #
0:11:10 > 0:11:12HE MIMICS KEYS SHAKING Here they come.
0:11:12 > 0:11:16- Everybody knows what's coming. - # I thought that I'd failed you... #
0:11:16 > 0:11:17The lieutenant came running down
0:11:17 > 0:11:20and he was this militant asshole with the brush cut
0:11:20 > 0:11:22and the uniform that was pressed to precision
0:11:22 > 0:11:26and he ran down and he ran down and he said, "Hold it." Like that.
0:11:26 > 0:11:29And even Wesley stopped cos we know, when Lieutenant Norris
0:11:29 > 0:11:31raised his hand, that was it.
0:11:31 > 0:11:36He said, "I leave in 20 minutes.
0:11:36 > 0:11:43"If there is a noise on this block, from anyone, when I leave this unit, we will beat every man's head in.
0:11:43 > 0:11:46"Do you understand me?" Silence.
0:11:48 > 0:11:51"Finish that song, inmate. Let's go."
0:11:51 > 0:11:54The guards looked at him like he had lost his frigging mind.
0:11:54 > 0:11:56They were stunned.
0:11:56 > 0:12:00"Let's go. You. You've got 20 minutes."
0:12:00 > 0:12:02And walked off the block. HE MIMICS KEYS SHAKING
0:12:04 > 0:12:06He even had an argument on the way out of the door.
0:12:06 > 0:12:09When the gates shut... GATE SLAMS
0:12:09 > 0:12:13..that big wide B block gate - when they left the block alone,
0:12:13 > 0:12:16we were like...
0:12:16 > 0:12:20"Oh, my God! We are totally and utterly unsupervised."
0:12:21 > 0:12:26And he came back right in mid-lyric like he had never stopped singing.
0:12:26 > 0:12:29# You said, "I love you, baby
0:12:29 > 0:12:33# I love you for just being a common man... #
0:12:33 > 0:12:35SINGER JOINS ON BASS NOTE
0:12:35 > 0:12:38And like you could hear them, here they come,
0:12:38 > 0:12:41the other members that had a little bit of guts, yeah?
0:12:41 > 0:12:42They were blowing, you know?
0:12:42 > 0:12:45They were giving bass, and it was wonderful.
0:12:45 > 0:12:47These voices, yeah?
0:12:47 > 0:12:52# I thank you, baby, yeah, for respecting me, yeah
0:12:52 > 0:12:55# I want to thank you, baby
0:12:55 > 0:12:58# For telling me
0:12:58 > 0:13:02# I want thank you for respecting me
0:13:02 > 0:13:05# In a time of worry
0:13:05 > 0:13:07# Thank you for calming my troubles... #
0:13:07 > 0:13:12GOSPEL-TYPE VOICES CONTINUE
0:13:12 > 0:13:15FINGER-CLICKS KEEP BEAT
0:13:15 > 0:13:16Then, out of nowhere...
0:13:16 > 0:13:20# Ooh... #
0:13:20 > 0:13:23..we heard this woman's voice.
0:13:23 > 0:13:27Dorothy Moore's Misty Blue.
0:13:27 > 0:13:30# Ah... #
0:13:30 > 0:13:34I thought, I swear to God, somebody had gotten a radio in on B Block.
0:13:34 > 0:13:38# Ah
0:13:38 > 0:13:41# Looks like I'd get you... #
0:13:41 > 0:13:46No-one really knew who it was that was singing and then I figured it out.
0:13:46 > 0:13:51Butch was six foot four and 240lbs.
0:13:52 > 0:13:56He had a big jagged scar that ran down the side of his face,
0:13:56 > 0:14:00like from someone trying to cut his head open.
0:14:00 > 0:14:02I was terrified of this man.
0:14:02 > 0:14:06# Oh, honey
0:14:06 > 0:14:09# Just the mention of your name... #
0:14:09 > 0:14:12To hear him sing in this beautiful voice...
0:14:12 > 0:14:16# Turns the flicker to a flame... #
0:14:16 > 0:14:21..as his way of showing love for someone who was being taken from him the next morning
0:14:21 > 0:14:27made me want someone to care for me in that place so much
0:14:27 > 0:14:33that they would sing, knowing that singing would have gotten their head beat in.
0:14:45 > 0:14:48They shipped Wesley that morning at 3:55am.
0:14:50 > 0:14:52But the next day,
0:14:52 > 0:14:55like a few guys were talking outside of their cells to each other,
0:14:55 > 0:14:59like a normal conversation, and when the guard went by
0:14:59 > 0:15:03he didn't tell them that they was going to beat their brains in, he just simply said,
0:15:03 > 0:15:05"Keep that down, the lieutenant doesn't like it.
0:15:07 > 0:15:09They weren't going to torture us with silence any more.
0:15:16 > 0:15:19CELL DOOR OPENS
0:15:19 > 0:15:20BUZZER
0:15:25 > 0:15:29Joe Bullen, my first appellate attorney, God bless him,
0:15:29 > 0:15:33got the attention of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
0:15:33 > 0:15:37He didn't like me, but he filed the appeal nonetheless
0:15:37 > 0:15:41and got us the hearing scheduled for February 20th.
0:15:44 > 0:15:46I was excited to go to court, you know.
0:15:51 > 0:15:54Two Delaware County sheriffs were waiting for me.
0:15:54 > 0:15:57They come up, they put the handcuffs on me.
0:15:58 > 0:16:00Both men were in their 60s.
0:16:00 > 0:16:04Two sweetheart guys who were already bullshitting about basketball
0:16:04 > 0:16:07and football and all this stuff in Philadelphia.
0:16:07 > 0:16:09They're giving me updates on some things that
0:16:09 > 0:16:12I haven't caught up on and people back down in the county jail
0:16:12 > 0:16:14who was going up to the state prison.
0:16:17 > 0:16:21We're talking about how damn cold it is. It was bitterly cold.
0:16:21 > 0:16:24In fact, it was the coldest day of the year that year.
0:16:32 > 0:16:35I'm sitting in the back and we're driving along.
0:16:35 > 0:16:39And we get down there four-and-a-half hours later.
0:16:39 > 0:16:44It's now about 4:30pm, almost 5:00pm, and nearly pitch dark.
0:16:48 > 0:16:50We pull in to go to the bathroom.
0:16:52 > 0:16:55The driver drives past it by like 25 yards.
0:16:57 > 0:17:01We get out of the car and we're hit with that blast of cold.
0:17:03 > 0:17:07We run right over, the three of us, to the cubicle and I go in
0:17:07 > 0:17:11and the door is being held open by the taller officer.
0:17:11 > 0:17:15And he stands there while I urinate and watches me.
0:17:17 > 0:17:19I'm peeing, I'm minding my own business,
0:17:19 > 0:17:22I'm thinking about getting back into that warm-ass car.
0:17:22 > 0:17:25It's freezing, I turn, I look up, he's got his hand up,
0:17:25 > 0:17:28I put my head under his arm and I make a left turn
0:17:28 > 0:17:30to go back to the car.
0:17:30 > 0:17:36What I did not know is that the officer who was driving
0:17:36 > 0:17:39went back to the car and waited.
0:17:39 > 0:17:43I came out of the cubicle and started trotting towards him.
0:17:43 > 0:17:46He looked past me and he didn't see his partner.
0:17:46 > 0:17:49He doesn't know if I've killed his partner or not.
0:17:49 > 0:17:53He just knew he was seeing a death row prisoner
0:17:53 > 0:17:55running at him unescorted.
0:17:55 > 0:17:57That's when he pulled his gun.
0:17:57 > 0:18:01When he did that motion of sticking his hand on his hip and pulling
0:18:01 > 0:18:05the weapon from the holster, I just turned and started running.
0:18:05 > 0:18:08He fired that weapon and it was like this huge percussion.
0:18:08 > 0:18:10GUNSHOT
0:18:12 > 0:18:19At 2,700 feet per second, that bullet went past my ear
0:18:19 > 0:18:22and so did anything else that I was looking behind me for.
0:18:26 > 0:18:28I went down and I hit the ground
0:18:28 > 0:18:32and ripped all of the skin on my hands and it's just like... Oooh!
0:18:32 > 0:18:35Then they started this attitude, you know,
0:18:35 > 0:18:37"That's it. I'm going to do what I got to do."
0:18:37 > 0:18:40So I just got up and I ran towards the big plate-glass window
0:18:40 > 0:18:43of the restaurant next door.
0:18:44 > 0:18:47I figured if I'm running directly at the window, he can't shoot me.
0:18:49 > 0:18:54I ran about 100 yards across the road and I circled back.
0:18:56 > 0:18:59And I came right back to where I had escaped.
0:18:59 > 0:19:02Now, I'm looking at them as they're yelling at each other
0:19:02 > 0:19:06who was the bigger idiot for letting this happen and then I hear them.
0:19:06 > 0:19:08POLICE SIRENS
0:19:08 > 0:19:10All the sirens in the world are coming.
0:19:11 > 0:19:14There was cars coming from everywhere.
0:19:16 > 0:19:19They had an escaped death row prisoner alert.
0:19:19 > 0:19:21They pulled out all the stops.
0:19:24 > 0:19:26So I took my eye glasses off,
0:19:26 > 0:19:29pulled the plastic off the end of the eyeglasses and I stuck
0:19:29 > 0:19:33the eyeglass pin into the handcuffs and I picked the handcuffs.
0:19:35 > 0:19:38I could see the buildings off to my right and one of them had a flag.
0:19:38 > 0:19:40That's a police station.
0:19:40 > 0:19:44I said, man, I'm going to hide behind the police station.
0:19:44 > 0:19:47So I navigated down behind this alleyway
0:19:47 > 0:19:52and I got down in this recessed area and I just huddle
0:19:52 > 0:19:53and I just waited.
0:19:56 > 0:19:57I was so cold.
0:19:57 > 0:20:02When I lost my core temperature like an hour later, I was shivering.
0:20:02 > 0:20:05I was like, oh my God, this is killing me.
0:20:05 > 0:20:08I was going into these bends. It was hurting.
0:20:08 > 0:20:13My ribs were aching from going into these convulsions like that.
0:20:13 > 0:20:15So I was hurting so bad.
0:20:15 > 0:20:17I'm going to get up and get out of here.
0:20:17 > 0:20:21I came flying out of that parking lot and they saw me.
0:20:21 > 0:20:22HELICOPTER ROTOR BLADES
0:20:24 > 0:20:28This guy came out of nowhere, just hovered above me.
0:20:28 > 0:20:32And the blinding candlelight of this magnitude, I can't even describe.
0:20:32 > 0:20:36And he circled and he had the whole area lit.
0:20:36 > 0:20:38He came back, he lit me up and lit me up.
0:20:38 > 0:20:42This guy chased me for literally three hours with this helicopter.
0:20:43 > 0:20:48My feet split open, my calves erupted, my hamstrings were pulled.
0:20:49 > 0:20:51But I got lucky, didn't I?
0:20:52 > 0:20:56The helicopter had a FLIR - forward-looking infrared camera
0:20:56 > 0:21:01and it wasn't working because it was so cold it malfunctioned.
0:21:07 > 0:21:10I ended up on a pair of railroad tracks
0:21:10 > 0:21:14where I walked on broken feet for five miles.
0:21:15 > 0:21:18Until I got to Frazer Pennsylvania where I stole a car.
0:21:20 > 0:21:23It was a 1965 green Mustang.
0:21:24 > 0:21:26I found a quarter.
0:21:26 > 0:21:30I went over to the coin box and I called a family member.
0:21:32 > 0:21:35I drove over to the house and they gave me 100,
0:21:35 > 0:21:38a handful of bandages and gauze
0:21:38 > 0:21:42and then a Philadelphia green Eagles ski cap.
0:21:42 > 0:21:46Like that wasn't going to give away my city location!
0:21:48 > 0:21:51I drove to New York City and I got a hotel room
0:21:51 > 0:21:55in the Bowery in a flophouse on the lower East Side.
0:21:55 > 0:21:57Seven dollars a night.
0:21:57 > 0:21:59I paid for a whole week in advance
0:21:59 > 0:22:03and then I went to a little bodega and I got a box of Epsom salt
0:22:03 > 0:22:05and went up to my room.
0:22:08 > 0:22:10Oh, my God.
0:22:10 > 0:22:15Like, I literally had institutional sock
0:22:15 > 0:22:18all threaded into the torn tissue of my feet.
0:22:18 > 0:22:20And I just soaked in it
0:22:20 > 0:22:22and I started pulling it out and it was like...
0:22:24 > 0:22:26I would just cry, man. The first three days...
0:22:26 > 0:22:30That's why I didn't even venture out. I literally couldn't walk.
0:22:32 > 0:22:34CAR HORNS
0:22:39 > 0:22:42After four days, I went out one evening.
0:22:42 > 0:22:45It was excruciating to finally go out.
0:22:45 > 0:22:49And Macy's had this long display window of all the electronic
0:22:49 > 0:22:52products and there were all these televisions and on them
0:22:52 > 0:22:56were all these different channels and on some of them was the news
0:22:56 > 0:23:01and there was the video footage of me obviously being hunted.
0:23:01 > 0:23:05And in that one moment I was hit by the reality, I'm not free.
0:23:05 > 0:23:08Not by a damn shot. I am just like...
0:23:08 > 0:23:09I'm temporarily out on a leash
0:23:09 > 0:23:12and if they catch me I'm going to catch a bullet.
0:23:12 > 0:23:14Like, it was so terrifying in that moment.
0:23:18 > 0:23:21In 1985 you didn't need to even show photo identification
0:23:21 > 0:23:23to get on an aeroplane.
0:23:23 > 0:23:25You didn't have to show who you were or anything.
0:23:27 > 0:23:29So I went to this upscale restaurant.
0:23:31 > 0:23:34And I just waited and waited. I waited by the men's room.
0:23:34 > 0:23:35Waiting, waiting.
0:23:37 > 0:23:41As soon as I saw a guy go in the bathroom without a jacket on,
0:23:41 > 0:23:43I walked over to his table and I stole his jacket
0:23:43 > 0:23:46and he had his wallet in his jacket.
0:23:47 > 0:23:50Then I went to the cloakroom and grabbed a fur coat.
0:23:50 > 0:23:52And I left.
0:24:05 > 0:24:08So I simply just used the credit card,
0:24:08 > 0:24:11bought last-minute tickets to Orlando
0:24:11 > 0:24:14and when I got to Orlando I told the taxi driver
0:24:14 > 0:24:17to take me to the pawn shop area.
0:24:24 > 0:24:27When I went into the shop the guy behind the counter,
0:24:27 > 0:24:30the owner, was obviously a criminal.
0:24:31 > 0:24:32So I told him,
0:24:32 > 0:24:35"I don't have any identification but I want to sell you this coat."
0:24:39 > 0:24:45So I negotiated with him to give me a gun and 100 for the coat,
0:24:45 > 0:24:47which was worth 5,000.
0:24:47 > 0:24:48A very nice fur coat.
0:24:51 > 0:24:55And so after he gave me the gun, he refused to give me bullets,
0:24:55 > 0:24:59he asked me if I was willing to rob this guy that he knew,
0:24:59 > 0:25:03Anthony Manilla, who had a collection of gold coins
0:25:03 > 0:25:05that were worth 350 each.
0:25:05 > 0:25:08He said there was at least 100 of these coins in this guy's house.
0:25:13 > 0:25:17I met Anthony Manilla just outside of his house.
0:25:17 > 0:25:19I was driving by on a bicycle I had bought at a flea market.
0:25:19 > 0:25:23So when I rode by I pretended that I recognised him from prison.
0:25:24 > 0:25:26Anthony knew he didn't know me
0:25:26 > 0:25:30but he pretended he also recognised me in that fake way some people do.
0:25:31 > 0:25:33He asked me what I was up to.
0:25:33 > 0:25:35I told him I had these pills for sale
0:25:35 > 0:25:37but I couldn't find anybody to buy them.
0:25:37 > 0:25:40So he told me he could get me 7 each for them if I waited.
0:25:42 > 0:25:45Now, I knew and he knew that each pill was worth 30 each.
0:25:46 > 0:25:50The cops in the area know he doesn't have a valid licence.
0:25:50 > 0:25:52So he actually gave me the wheel.
0:26:03 > 0:26:07We drive towards where I tell him I have the drugs stashed.
0:26:09 > 0:26:12I pulled the gun and I said, "OK, freeze, I got you."
0:26:12 > 0:26:14And he was like, "OK, take it easy."
0:26:15 > 0:26:18I pulled over and demanded that he give me
0:26:18 > 0:26:20the nod of money he had been bragging with.
0:26:20 > 0:26:22He gave me that.
0:26:22 > 0:26:26He had a Rolex watch and he had diamond jewellery all over him.
0:26:27 > 0:26:29I said, "Now I've got to tie you up
0:26:29 > 0:26:32"because I've got to go back into your house and get that money."
0:26:32 > 0:26:36He flat out refused. I said, "What do you mean, no?"
0:26:36 > 0:26:38This is like a 140 pound person.
0:26:38 > 0:26:41I grabbed him and I said, "Please hold still."
0:26:41 > 0:26:45I tied his hands up, put him in the trunk, I slammed the trunk deck down
0:26:45 > 0:26:49and I don't know that the trunk deck clasp has gone through
0:26:49 > 0:26:52the rope and is now just stuck but not locked
0:26:52 > 0:26:55because three red lights later he jumps out
0:26:55 > 0:26:59and when he jumps out he looks like a mummy who has unravelled
0:26:59 > 0:27:01and he runs up to the car behind and knocks on the window
0:27:01 > 0:27:04and says, "He tried to rob me! He's trying to rob me!"
0:27:04 > 0:27:06And then he ran off.
0:27:06 > 0:27:09The two women in my rear-view were looking at each other
0:27:09 > 0:27:13and looking at me and I just gunned it across the red light and went
0:27:13 > 0:27:17flying across to Station Road and went right up the middle of Orlando.
0:27:17 > 0:27:20And I didn't go back to his house.
0:27:24 > 0:27:26So I drove all night.
0:27:28 > 0:27:31At 2:30am in the morning I get to Daytona Beach, Volusia County.
0:27:32 > 0:27:35And it's Bike Week, March 10th.
0:27:37 > 0:27:41I've been an escaped prisoner for 25 days.
0:27:42 > 0:27:47And I'm sitting there and I'm like, I can't get a hotel room anywhere.
0:27:47 > 0:27:49It's booked, everything is solid.
0:27:49 > 0:27:53My eyes were all gravelly and I was just so exhausted.
0:27:53 > 0:27:57So I just put the seat back and went to sleep.
0:28:00 > 0:28:02The next thing I know,
0:28:02 > 0:28:08three sharp raps right on the window and there's a cop right there.
0:28:08 > 0:28:10My heart is pounding.
0:28:11 > 0:28:14He's making the motion like this so I put the window down.
0:28:14 > 0:28:17He said, "Did you hear anybody screaming?" I said, "What?"
0:28:17 > 0:28:19He said "Some woman screaming.
0:28:19 > 0:28:22"There's been a call, a domestic dispute. Is there a problem?"
0:28:23 > 0:28:26And I was like, "No."
0:28:26 > 0:28:31I was talking to him and I was just focusing on him trying to answer him
0:28:31 > 0:28:34and that's when I heard from the passenger side
0:28:34 > 0:28:37the other officer yell, "Hey Bert, there's a gun."
0:28:37 > 0:28:40And he immediately pulled his weapon and I said,
0:28:40 > 0:28:41"Hold on, hold on. What's up?"
0:28:41 > 0:28:43I didn't know this,
0:28:43 > 0:28:48but about that much of the pistol was laying out under a blanket.
0:28:50 > 0:28:52So I got out of the car, I had my hands up.
0:28:53 > 0:28:55I gave a false name.
0:28:56 > 0:28:58They put handcuffs on me. They locked me up.
0:29:01 > 0:29:03I'm sitting in prison and waiting.
0:29:04 > 0:29:06And I said, to hell with this.
0:29:06 > 0:29:08TELEPHONE RINGS
0:29:10 > 0:29:12My father immediately picked up.
0:29:12 > 0:29:13Hello?
0:29:13 > 0:29:17I said, "Dad I need you to call the FBI and tell them where I'm at.
0:29:17 > 0:29:21"If they don't come and get me I'm going to go before this
0:29:21 > 0:29:24"judge in the morning and I'm going to bail out and get out of here."
0:29:25 > 0:29:27He hung up the phone.
0:29:27 > 0:29:32He called an agent by the name of Bud Warner, Philadelphia FBI office.
0:29:33 > 0:29:36Man, the doors came open. They came flying in there.
0:29:36 > 0:29:38DOOR SLAMS
0:29:43 > 0:29:46They added 35 more years to my sentence for that robbery.
0:29:48 > 0:29:50Put me on death row in Florida.
0:29:51 > 0:29:54And left me there to swelter all through that summer.
0:29:57 > 0:30:00By the time they came and got me in September
0:30:00 > 0:30:02I was so eager to go back to Pennsylvania,
0:30:02 > 0:30:06even though I knew I was going to get some serious beatings.
0:30:10 > 0:30:13I had made an enemy of every guard on shift.
0:30:14 > 0:30:17I was going to go through some extreme punishment.
0:30:19 > 0:30:21Man, it was hard.
0:30:39 > 0:30:43I stewed and I seethed.
0:30:45 > 0:30:48I was so angry I was beating my head on the wall.
0:30:51 > 0:30:54So every couple of weeks they would take me out and patch my head up.
0:30:59 > 0:31:00And, erm...
0:31:02 > 0:31:04This one officer when he was escorting me back
0:31:04 > 0:31:07from the nurse's station stopped by this cell
0:31:07 > 0:31:10and he said "Go in there and get them books."
0:31:11 > 0:31:14So this guard, nice guy too turned out to be,
0:31:14 > 0:31:18he lets me go in to the cell and I get these books.
0:31:18 > 0:31:22And some of them were just too hard to read, you know.
0:31:33 > 0:31:39You see, by the time I reached the eighth grade at the age of 13,
0:31:39 > 0:31:43school was just an area to meet up with your friends
0:31:43 > 0:31:46to go swimming or fighting, you know.
0:31:49 > 0:31:53So my reading comprehension level was basic, to say the least.
0:31:57 > 0:32:01But patience and I had all the time in the world.
0:32:02 > 0:32:05So I started working with these books.
0:32:08 > 0:32:13In the front of the General Education Development booklet
0:32:13 > 0:32:15was a note, 'Tips Of Learning'.
0:32:15 > 0:32:18And it said, "If you take a word
0:32:18 > 0:32:22"and write out its spelling 10 times while covering each previous one
0:32:22 > 0:32:27"and then apply each of those to 10 sentences using that word,
0:32:27 > 0:32:29"you will not forget that word."
0:32:29 > 0:32:31The 10 times rule.
0:32:31 > 0:32:35So I sat there with a pen and every word I didn't understand
0:32:35 > 0:32:37I did the 10 times rule to it.
0:32:37 > 0:32:41I remember I would go through a day
0:32:41 > 0:32:45where I would have 50 word days, 40 word days,
0:32:45 > 0:32:48I counted days sometimes on the accomplishments
0:32:48 > 0:32:53of being able to sit down and to orally go and say,
0:32:53 > 0:32:56Robert is a triskaidekaphobic.
0:32:56 > 0:32:58Robert is afraid of the number 13.
0:32:58 > 0:33:02Robert does not understand that it's just an illusion
0:33:02 > 0:33:04that 13 can harm him.
0:33:04 > 0:33:07And I would just talk to myself until I had that one down.
0:33:07 > 0:33:09Then I would move on to phantasmagoria
0:33:09 > 0:33:11and I would understand that phantasmagoria
0:33:11 > 0:33:14was the fear of ghosts and I'd like, boo!
0:33:14 > 0:33:17You know, so I just played with it
0:33:17 > 0:33:21and it just became this stupid image of this kid
0:33:21 > 0:33:25sitting in a room by himself entertaining himself with words.
0:33:25 > 0:33:28And it was quiet because I was in the back of the B block
0:33:28 > 0:33:30and I was quietly just doing it.
0:33:30 > 0:33:32Triskaidekaphobia.
0:33:33 > 0:33:34The fear of 13.
0:33:37 > 0:33:38And like, it worked.
0:33:40 > 0:33:44For some reason, that small gesture of humanity by that guard
0:33:44 > 0:33:47just changed everything for me.
0:33:55 > 0:33:59I loved it. I was hooked on dime store novels.
0:33:59 > 0:34:01Series. Detective series.
0:34:01 > 0:34:05Jack Higgins, Robert Ludlum, Elmore Leonard.
0:34:05 > 0:34:07The first 1,000 books,
0:34:07 > 0:34:11I remember I was so proud of the accomplishment.
0:34:11 > 0:34:14I had written down 1,000 titles of 1,000 different books
0:34:14 > 0:34:15that I had personally read.
0:34:15 > 0:34:17It took me three years.
0:34:19 > 0:34:21I loved Rudyard Kipling.
0:34:21 > 0:34:24I loved tales.
0:34:24 > 0:34:29I loved storytelling of tales like Sinbad and Homer.
0:34:30 > 0:34:33Like, true story telling is the telling of life.
0:34:33 > 0:34:36Isn't it?
0:34:36 > 0:34:38I loved it. I loved it.
0:34:39 > 0:34:42I'm so glad I was a drug addict in one way.
0:34:42 > 0:34:46I was addicted to books and I got hooked on them in the worst way.
0:34:49 > 0:34:53Meanwhile, I was reading law books and studying serology.
0:34:53 > 0:34:55I went to college.
0:34:55 > 0:34:59I really opened up all this time and structure for reading.
0:35:01 > 0:35:06And with every new book I found something wonderful about myself.
0:35:06 > 0:35:08I found...
0:35:11 > 0:35:13I found myself. Like, it was wonderful.
0:35:15 > 0:35:19I was happy on death row at times when I shouldn't have been
0:35:19 > 0:35:21and it was only because I became comfortable
0:35:21 > 0:35:25with being who I was, finally, in life.
0:35:25 > 0:35:27CELL DOOR OPENS
0:35:27 > 0:35:29BUZZER
0:35:34 > 0:35:36And that's when I met Jackie.
0:35:37 > 0:35:41Jackie Schaefer was a 31-year-old woman
0:35:41 > 0:35:46living in Pittsburgh's Pennsylvania who was going to visit
0:35:46 > 0:35:49some death row prisoners with her friend Pamela Tucker,
0:35:49 > 0:35:52who was the organiser of an abolitionist group
0:35:52 > 0:35:54from Pennsylvania.
0:35:54 > 0:35:56They went monthly to prisons around Pennsylvania
0:35:56 > 0:36:00and visited death row prisoners to check on their mental state,
0:36:00 > 0:36:03to see if there were issues they could get involved with to help
0:36:03 > 0:36:06the better treatment of the overall population of death row prisoners.
0:36:06 > 0:36:10They came to the prison and they visited five men.
0:36:10 > 0:36:12I was the fifth one.
0:36:12 > 0:36:14The other preceding prisoners all went out there
0:36:14 > 0:36:17and lamented how terrible it was, the things they were encountering,
0:36:17 > 0:36:19the conditions and all that.
0:36:19 > 0:36:23I walked in, I sat down and said hello to my friend Pam.
0:36:23 > 0:36:25I asked her about her daughters.
0:36:25 > 0:36:28We interacted about a few things and I turned to Jackie
0:36:28 > 0:36:30and I started flirting with her.
0:36:30 > 0:36:32I started being gregarious and open.
0:36:33 > 0:36:37It was completely unlike all the other men who came out
0:36:37 > 0:36:41with little lists of things to talk about, while I simply was myself.
0:36:43 > 0:36:45She came back the next week by herself.
0:36:47 > 0:36:48Scared to death.
0:36:50 > 0:36:58So in this four foot by literally five and a half foot walled room,
0:36:59 > 0:37:04she would walk in and sit down with a notepad and we'd talk.
0:37:04 > 0:37:07Week after week.
0:37:08 > 0:37:12She drove 275 miles from Pittsburgh to Huntington,
0:37:12 > 0:37:17through these mountains, each way, and we'd start talking.
0:37:18 > 0:37:20And it was weird.
0:37:22 > 0:37:27I started to find out one true thing about myself
0:37:27 > 0:37:32and I think this is true for every prisoner who goes into prison
0:37:32 > 0:37:36at the age of 20 and is ready to exit in his 30s or 40s.
0:37:37 > 0:37:43You can only grow so far as a man until a woman teaches you
0:37:43 > 0:37:46enough about yourself that you can further develop.
0:37:47 > 0:37:50And it's only through the eyes of that person that you give
0:37:50 > 0:37:54yourself openly to that they teach you
0:37:54 > 0:37:57so many things about yourself that are qualities
0:37:57 > 0:38:00that you rely upon and like and respect
0:38:00 > 0:38:04because you've been shown from afar something no mirror,
0:38:04 > 0:38:07and believe me I didn't have a mirror, could show you.
0:38:09 > 0:38:13But at the heart of it, I kept feeling dirty.
0:38:14 > 0:38:21I did not want to be that prisoner who is serving life
0:38:21 > 0:38:23who lets a woman fall in love with him,
0:38:23 > 0:38:26knowing he's going to suck the life out of her.
0:38:27 > 0:38:31I had the death penalty plus 105 years. I wasn't going anywhere.
0:38:36 > 0:38:40And then I get a newspaper.
0:38:45 > 0:38:50And it's funny how my whole story and life and this journey
0:38:50 > 0:38:53has all been changed by either photographs or newspapers.
0:38:56 > 0:39:01But there it was. Five months after I'd met Jackie, four months.
0:39:04 > 0:39:08Newly developed DNA science makes a big splash in the crime world.
0:39:10 > 0:39:12Criminal convictions being reversed.
0:39:14 > 0:39:18People were walking out, left and right and left and right.
0:39:19 > 0:39:21Whoa.
0:39:21 > 0:39:24I write a letter to Jackie, I cut the article, I sent it to her.
0:39:24 > 0:39:26She came back on that visit.
0:39:28 > 0:39:32As soon as the doors closed, I said, "I didn't kill that woman."
0:39:34 > 0:39:37That was the first thing I shouted.
0:39:37 > 0:39:39I was, like... That was the first time I'd told her.
0:39:41 > 0:39:44And I was, like, "I've got two things to tell you.
0:39:44 > 0:39:46"One - I didn't kill Mrs Craig.
0:39:46 > 0:39:51"And, two - I think I'm in love with you, too."
0:39:51 > 0:39:54She was, like, "Let's handle the first one, first."
0:39:54 > 0:39:58You know what I mean? Let's deal with the difficult one first.
0:39:58 > 0:40:00I was, like, "Oh, man."
0:40:03 > 0:40:05CAR DOOR SLAMS
0:40:07 > 0:40:09KID SHOUTS, ENGINE STARTS
0:40:09 > 0:40:10ENGINE REVS
0:40:17 > 0:40:22In the 1970s, a lot of the vehicles still didn't have locks
0:40:22 > 0:40:25on the steering column, so you could just stick
0:40:25 > 0:40:28a screwdriver into the key slot
0:40:28 > 0:40:31and literally just turn the ignition.
0:40:31 > 0:40:35So, my friend Eddie and I used to steal the early Fords,
0:40:35 > 0:40:38and we would joyride them.
0:40:40 > 0:40:43This man knew we were 15-year-old kids,
0:40:43 > 0:40:47and knew that we didn't own the car, and knew that it was stolen.
0:40:47 > 0:40:49He was, like, "Come here, I'll give you 200 for the car."
0:40:49 > 0:40:51We looked at each other, and 200 was, like, an enormous
0:40:51 > 0:40:54amount of money. We figured we just hit the jackpot.
0:40:54 > 0:40:58We knew he owned a collision centre that fixed and repaired cars.
0:40:58 > 0:41:01So we said, "Can we get you another car?"
0:41:01 > 0:41:06And he told us what one he would need, when he needed it,
0:41:06 > 0:41:08and we'd go out and look for it.
0:41:08 > 0:41:10PLANE FLIES OVERHEAD
0:41:10 > 0:41:12ENGINE TURNS OVER
0:41:12 > 0:41:14ENGINE STARTS
0:41:14 > 0:41:18So, usually, my friends and I would go to the Philadelphia airport
0:41:18 > 0:41:20and wait for what we called vics...
0:41:20 > 0:41:23TYRES SCREECH
0:41:23 > 0:41:25..which was somebody who walked up,
0:41:25 > 0:41:28took their luggage out of the rear of the car,
0:41:28 > 0:41:32and then walked inside with the family members to see them off.
0:41:33 > 0:41:36And never got a car when they came out.
0:41:37 > 0:41:41I've had several people in the rear-view mirror
0:41:41 > 0:41:45chasing behind you as you drove off with their car.
0:41:48 > 0:41:50You dropped the car off, you got 200-300.
0:41:50 > 0:41:53And then you took that money and you bought drugs.
0:41:53 > 0:41:56And by the time I was 17, I was really,
0:41:56 > 0:41:59really getting hooked on methamphetamine.
0:41:59 > 0:42:02My favourite vein was right there on the outside.
0:42:04 > 0:42:07I can still feel the hole in my arm.
0:42:07 > 0:42:09I can still taste the drug in my mouth.
0:42:09 > 0:42:13When you inject methamphetamine into your arm,
0:42:13 > 0:42:17you get the burning numbing sensation shoot up your arm,
0:42:17 > 0:42:20and then you get the taste of...
0:42:20 > 0:42:22ethanol in your mouth.
0:42:23 > 0:42:25And it's like a cough...
0:42:25 > 0:42:27HE BLOWS
0:42:27 > 0:42:28..just like that.
0:42:31 > 0:42:33And then the other Nicky came out.
0:42:36 > 0:42:39The one I didn't cringe in the mirror from.
0:42:39 > 0:42:41The one who wasn't weak.
0:42:41 > 0:42:43The one who wasn't afraid.
0:42:46 > 0:42:49CHILD PANTS
0:43:16 > 0:43:20'I wasn't just hooked on one drug.'
0:43:22 > 0:43:25I was a mess of multiple drugs.
0:43:25 > 0:43:27And alcohol.
0:43:28 > 0:43:30And by December 20th,
0:43:30 > 0:43:33I had already been homeless on the streets for about most of that year.
0:43:35 > 0:43:40And that's when I stole two cars in a row for 500 each,
0:43:40 > 0:43:42and I went out, started partying again.
0:43:44 > 0:43:47I was on the binge. Burning it, they called it.
0:43:52 > 0:43:57Every time I think of that night, I smell wet, burning leaves.
0:43:59 > 0:44:01It's almost sweet.
0:44:03 > 0:44:07I was driving around in another stolen car.
0:44:08 > 0:44:12LOUD FUNK MUSIC PLAYS
0:44:13 > 0:44:15The radio was blasting.
0:44:15 > 0:44:16POLICE SIREN BLARES
0:44:16 > 0:44:19You must have heard the radio before you saw me.
0:44:22 > 0:44:25When he flew out, I knew he was going to stop me.
0:44:25 > 0:44:29I just... I just felt it coming right at me.
0:44:31 > 0:44:33And...the adrenaline.
0:44:33 > 0:44:36HE POUNDS HIS CHEST WITH HIS FIST
0:44:39 > 0:44:41His hand's on the butt of his gun.
0:44:45 > 0:44:48Here he comes. Now, I'm like, "Oh, I can't stop it."
0:44:48 > 0:44:50HE GULPS
0:44:52 > 0:44:55Shit... I can't do anything.
0:44:56 > 0:44:59I remember, like, looking just like that.
0:45:00 > 0:45:02HE MIMES
0:45:02 > 0:45:06I don't understand whatever he's saying. His hand's going.
0:45:06 > 0:45:08HE MIMES
0:45:09 > 0:45:14The door pops, and the vacuum now, when the door comes open,
0:45:14 > 0:45:17and there's all that quiet on the street, and the noise
0:45:17 > 0:45:19on the radio's still going... IMITATES GUITAR
0:45:19 > 0:45:22..that's when I realised the radio was still on.
0:45:22 > 0:45:25LOUD MUSIC PLAYS
0:45:25 > 0:45:28"You didn't stop for the light. Didn't you see the stop sign?"
0:45:28 > 0:45:32All those things, but... I panicked, you know?
0:45:34 > 0:45:36Like, I remember I did that. Like, stand-up.
0:45:36 > 0:45:40He was, like, right against my throat with his forearm.
0:45:40 > 0:45:44Bang! Against the car. When he shoved me back like that,
0:45:44 > 0:45:47I remember, like, coming up with my left arm.
0:45:47 > 0:45:50And it was, like, gone, right for the stick,
0:45:50 > 0:45:54and I just followed it along, grabbed his arm.
0:45:54 > 0:45:55He had the stick come out,
0:45:55 > 0:45:59I took it right out, like it was nothing.
0:46:00 > 0:46:02Right out of his hand.
0:46:02 > 0:46:05He was furious! And that's when the right-hand came out.
0:46:05 > 0:46:07I saw that gun.
0:46:07 > 0:46:11I grabbed it. I reached out, I pushed his arm straight down.
0:46:11 > 0:46:15Then you felt the percussion of the blast.
0:46:15 > 0:46:16And then you heard the pop.
0:46:16 > 0:46:18GUNSHOT
0:46:18 > 0:46:21"OK! OK! OK!"
0:46:21 > 0:46:24He stuck the gun right there. He said, "You son of a bitch!
0:46:24 > 0:46:27"You almost got us killed!" He was, like, "Get in the car!"
0:46:27 > 0:46:31And he slammed me in the back, in the cage area, shut the door.
0:46:31 > 0:46:34"Shots fired, officer assist."
0:46:34 > 0:46:37I remember just... He said it four times.
0:46:41 > 0:46:44I remember, I was just sitting there, like this.
0:46:47 > 0:46:49What the hell happened?
0:46:49 > 0:46:51KEYS RATTLE
0:46:51 > 0:46:53HEAVY DOOR CLOSES
0:46:54 > 0:46:57They threw me in the intake unit.
0:46:58 > 0:47:00And I crashed.
0:47:01 > 0:47:04I must have slept at least 16 hours.
0:47:04 > 0:47:06HEAVY DOOR OPENS
0:47:13 > 0:47:16I was so scared. They pulled me out.
0:47:17 > 0:47:21I'd been arrested enough to know this one's scary, this is serious.
0:47:21 > 0:47:23This one's bad.
0:47:25 > 0:47:30And the public defender was this young kid, and he turned to me.
0:47:30 > 0:47:32He said, "Look, Mr Yarris,
0:47:32 > 0:47:34"do you understand the serious nature of these charges,
0:47:34 > 0:47:36"because if you're convicted of these charges,
0:47:36 > 0:47:38"you face life imprisonment."
0:47:38 > 0:47:41I said, "What's my charges?" He said,
0:47:41 > 0:47:43"Kidnapping of police officer.
0:47:43 > 0:47:46"Attempted murder of a police officer.
0:47:46 > 0:47:49"Reckless endangerment, possession of a firearm,
0:47:49 > 0:47:52"robbery, resisting arrest,
0:47:52 > 0:47:54"possession of a stolen vehicle."
0:47:56 > 0:47:58I started crying.
0:48:02 > 0:48:07They take me back to the cell, and there was the newspaper.
0:48:09 > 0:48:14The December 16th Delaware County Daily Times.
0:48:17 > 0:48:22The front page was missing, so the front page on it was page three.
0:48:26 > 0:48:31And right there was the story of Linda Mae Craig.
0:48:43 > 0:48:45I swear...
0:48:45 > 0:48:48something about that newspaper kept calling me.
0:49:02 > 0:49:09On December 15th, 1981, at 4:05pm, Linda Mae Craig left work.
0:49:10 > 0:49:13She was knocked out of her shoes in the car park
0:49:13 > 0:49:18of the Tri-State Mall, dragged into a car that she owned,
0:49:18 > 0:49:20and then driven into the state of Pennsylvania,
0:49:20 > 0:49:22about two-and-a-half miles away,
0:49:22 > 0:49:25where she was taken behind a church...
0:49:26 > 0:49:31..where she was stabbed after being raped, and dumped in the car park.
0:49:34 > 0:49:38The next morning, two children...
0:49:39 > 0:49:40..walked up to what they thought
0:49:40 > 0:49:44was a mannequin that had been covered in the newly fallen snow.
0:49:46 > 0:49:51One of the boys walked up, and kicked the snow from the face
0:49:51 > 0:49:54of the mannequin, so that they could see if it was
0:49:54 > 0:49:55a boy or a girl mannequin...
0:49:57 > 0:50:01..only to discover the disfigured face of Mrs Craig.
0:50:09 > 0:50:12I lived 20-something miles from the murder scene.
0:50:12 > 0:50:17And I said, "Man, if I had knowledge about a crime this big...
0:50:19 > 0:50:22"..I can get out of this. I bet you they would let me out
0:50:22 > 0:50:25"and then I could get out on bail and I'd run."
0:50:25 > 0:50:27Like the stupid mind of a child.
0:50:28 > 0:50:30So I sat in my cell.
0:50:30 > 0:50:32And I started making up a story.
0:50:32 > 0:50:34And I said I would tell 'em...
0:50:34 > 0:50:37that somebody did the murder, right?
0:50:37 > 0:50:39And then I had to find out who I could blame.
0:50:39 > 0:50:42And the only one I could think of was Jimmy.
0:50:45 > 0:50:50I had met Jimmy Brisbois in 1980, when I was doing drugs.
0:50:50 > 0:50:55And I stole some coins from a car that I'd gotten from the airport.
0:50:56 > 0:50:591,000 coins? There was a lot of coins in this big bag.
0:51:00 > 0:51:04I made the mistake of showing Jimmy, and, out of nowhere,
0:51:04 > 0:51:08his friend hit me with this 357 Magnum.
0:51:08 > 0:51:09THUMP
0:51:09 > 0:51:14I've still got a chip out of my eyebrow that I can rub at this time.
0:51:14 > 0:51:15TYRES SCREECH
0:51:17 > 0:51:20And they had an old carpet in the front room that nobody
0:51:20 > 0:51:23used in this house we were living in on Woodland Avenue.
0:51:23 > 0:51:26So, rolled me up in the rug,
0:51:26 > 0:51:28threw me into this pick-up truck that Jimmy had,
0:51:28 > 0:51:32and they took me behind the Westing House warehouse.
0:51:32 > 0:51:35And I heard the spliff - PEW! - like that.
0:51:35 > 0:51:39One of them took a 22-calibre pistol and shot the rug.
0:51:39 > 0:51:41But being drug addict idiots that they were,
0:51:41 > 0:51:44they shot it where the folded part over of the rug was,
0:51:44 > 0:51:48about two feet above my head, way out of range of anywhere I was.
0:51:49 > 0:51:51I was enraged.
0:51:53 > 0:51:54I went looking for Jimmy.
0:51:56 > 0:51:58"Hey, Michael, what happened to your buddy, Jimmy?"
0:51:58 > 0:52:00Cos he knew Jimmy.
0:52:00 > 0:52:02"So, what happened to your old rat-bastard Jimmy?
0:52:02 > 0:52:05"I ain't seen him for a while." And that's when he told me the story.
0:52:05 > 0:52:09Jimmy and his friends were over in Jersey. Jimmy had an overdose.
0:52:09 > 0:52:12They weren't taking him to the hospital to get arrested,
0:52:12 > 0:52:14so they dumped him, stole his drugs, and he's dead.
0:52:14 > 0:52:17So you don't have to look for him no more.
0:52:22 > 0:52:26All I wanted them to do was lower my bail enough that
0:52:26 > 0:52:30I was allowed out temporarily, at which time I could abscond.
0:52:31 > 0:52:34Jimmy was dead, they were going to find out eventually, right?
0:52:37 > 0:52:39They took me to the warden's office.
0:52:39 > 0:52:42They brought me in, took my handcuffs off, the warden goes,
0:52:42 > 0:52:44"Hey, get him a drink, man. Get him a cold drink."
0:52:44 > 0:52:46So they went out and got me a Coca-Cola.
0:52:46 > 0:52:49I'm sitting in a lounge chair, no longer in a prison setting, like.
0:52:49 > 0:52:52And I'm sitting there, and he's got my file.
0:52:52 > 0:52:55He's, like, "Oh, man, you're a young guy.
0:52:55 > 0:52:56"What are you charged with all this for?
0:52:56 > 0:52:59"You don't have any violence on your record. What's this bullshit?
0:52:59 > 0:53:02"Attempted murder? That doesn't sound like you, Nick.
0:53:02 > 0:53:04"You're a car thief. What's going on here?"
0:53:07 > 0:53:09I tell him my story.
0:53:11 > 0:53:14Like a proud parent, everyone's praising me.
0:53:14 > 0:53:16In just a few hours,
0:53:16 > 0:53:20I went from sitting there with 100,000 bail waiting to go
0:53:20 > 0:53:23to prison for the rest of my life to being told
0:53:23 > 0:53:26I was going to have a hearing set up next week in which
0:53:26 > 0:53:29I would possibly be released on my own recognisances
0:53:29 > 0:53:33and my charges would be reduced to nothing more than resisting arrest.
0:53:35 > 0:53:38When they found James Brisbois alive,
0:53:38 > 0:53:41you could have knocked me over with a feather.
0:53:42 > 0:53:47Jimmy had gotten off the drugs, got his life together.
0:53:47 > 0:53:48I was screwed.
0:53:48 > 0:53:51When they came back to me, they knew two things.
0:53:51 > 0:53:54One - James Brisbois had nothing to do with that crime.
0:53:54 > 0:53:58And I had more information than anyone else.
0:53:58 > 0:54:01It was all guesswork, but it didn't matter to them.
0:54:03 > 0:54:05KEYS JANGLE
0:54:05 > 0:54:06CELL DOOR OPENS
0:54:13 > 0:54:17I was charged with the abduction, rape,
0:54:17 > 0:54:20and murder of a woman I'd never met in my life.
0:54:23 > 0:54:26I was already sitting in prison for the attempted murder
0:54:26 > 0:54:29of a police officer.
0:54:29 > 0:54:32I'm a 20-year-old drug addict,
0:54:32 > 0:54:35who's been thrown out of his own house
0:54:35 > 0:54:37onto the streets by his own family.
0:54:39 > 0:54:41What chance do I have?
0:54:41 > 0:54:42No-one's going to believe me.
0:54:50 > 0:54:52In April, the trial for the attempted murder
0:54:52 > 0:54:56and kidnapping of Officer Benjamin Wright was to begin.
0:54:56 > 0:54:59By then, I had already been charged with the murder of Linda Mae Craig,
0:54:59 > 0:55:03so the media was having a field day with stalker stories
0:55:03 > 0:55:06and making me out to be a complete deranged lunatic.
0:55:06 > 0:55:11So, my trial began and Officer Wright testified.
0:55:11 > 0:55:13He got up on the stand, and he started telling a completely
0:55:13 > 0:55:15different story than what actually happened.
0:55:15 > 0:55:19He said that when he pulled up to the car, I had opened the door,
0:55:19 > 0:55:21got out, and punched him in the face,
0:55:21 > 0:55:22and knocked his glasses off his face.
0:55:22 > 0:55:25He then said he was trying to flail and defend himself
0:55:25 > 0:55:28while I pummelled him a couple more times in the face,
0:55:28 > 0:55:30before I reached down and grabbed his gun
0:55:30 > 0:55:33and took his gun from him, and after which he said I had
0:55:33 > 0:55:35the gun pointed directly at his face
0:55:35 > 0:55:38when he heroically reached out with both hands,
0:55:38 > 0:55:40and grabbed the gun, and pulled it from me
0:55:40 > 0:55:42as it discharged right next to his face.
0:55:45 > 0:55:50And he had a photograph of his hand with a 2.5cm scratch on it
0:55:50 > 0:55:53to prove all of the things that he said.
0:55:54 > 0:55:55CHAIR SCRAPES
0:55:55 > 0:56:00And Sam Stretton, my defence lawyer, got up
0:56:00 > 0:56:03and calmly walked over with the photograph in his hand,
0:56:03 > 0:56:07placed the photograph down on the bar of the witness box
0:56:07 > 0:56:09in front of Officer Wright and said,
0:56:09 > 0:56:13"Is it your testimony that Nicholas Yarris punched you
0:56:13 > 0:56:17"in the face three times, breaking your eyeglasses,
0:56:17 > 0:56:20"he then took this pistol and held it up,"
0:56:20 > 0:56:23and said, "Hit you in the face with it,
0:56:23 > 0:56:26"like, a seven pound metal object twice.
0:56:28 > 0:56:31"Why didn't you photograph your face?"
0:56:31 > 0:56:34Officer Wright knew that the jig was up.
0:56:34 > 0:56:36He turned and said, "I'm a good looking man.
0:56:36 > 0:56:38"I didn't want the jury to see my face all scratched up.
0:56:38 > 0:56:41"I don't have to show that." He got all defiant.
0:56:41 > 0:56:45The jury made this snorting, scoffing kind of noise and, like,
0:56:45 > 0:56:49everyone saw in that one moment that his story was really a lie.
0:56:50 > 0:56:54The jury deliberated for a very short...very, very short time,
0:56:54 > 0:56:57and came right back. Not guilty of attempted murder.
0:56:57 > 0:57:00Not guilty of kidnapping of a police officer.
0:57:00 > 0:57:02Not guilty - aggravated assault.
0:57:02 > 0:57:04All charges - not guilty.
0:57:05 > 0:57:07And then Barry Gross, the prosecutor,
0:57:07 > 0:57:11who is, like, really pissed off, he was so angry, he tells the jury,
0:57:11 > 0:57:14"You just let a murderer go, you just let him go!"
0:57:14 > 0:57:16And the jury foreman was this woman who stood up and said,
0:57:16 > 0:57:19"Excuse me, we didn't try that case.
0:57:19 > 0:57:23"We tried this case, and your case stinks." And my mum said, "Yeah!
0:57:23 > 0:57:25"That's right, tell him again, lady."
0:57:26 > 0:57:28And it was the worst thing.
0:57:29 > 0:57:30Oh, my God.
0:57:32 > 0:57:36The very next week, Barry Gross takes over the murder prosecution
0:57:36 > 0:57:38and begins seeking the death penalty.
0:57:42 > 0:57:46I went from April, when I was acquitted of all charges,
0:57:46 > 0:57:49to the June trial for the murder of Mrs Craig.
0:57:52 > 0:57:53I was so scared.
0:57:58 > 0:58:02Arthur Craig, the victim's husband, was asked to testify.
0:58:05 > 0:58:07That first click in the rotation.
0:58:07 > 0:58:08IMITATES CLICK
0:58:09 > 0:58:12And, there it was, the portrait photograph.
0:58:12 > 0:58:15Mr Craig, Mrs Craig,
0:58:15 > 0:58:18and their three adopted children in a family-type setting.
0:58:18 > 0:58:21And the prosecutor asked Arthur Craig, "Is that it your wife?
0:58:21 > 0:58:24"Can you identify the people in the photograph?"
0:58:24 > 0:58:26He did, along with his wife as well.
0:58:26 > 0:58:28And then...
0:58:28 > 0:58:29IMITATES CLICK
0:58:32 > 0:58:36..there was Mrs Craig, laid out on the autopsy table,
0:58:36 > 0:58:38six stab wounds, clearly visible
0:58:38 > 0:58:42and her broken teeth and everything visible.
0:58:42 > 0:58:45There was...a gasp, almost.
0:58:47 > 0:58:48People were looking away.
0:58:50 > 0:58:51IMITATES CLICK
0:58:51 > 0:58:53The next one.
0:59:00 > 0:59:02The photograph was white and black.
0:59:04 > 0:59:08But for when you got closer towards that figure that was
0:59:08 > 0:59:10covered in snow...
0:59:10 > 0:59:16you could see the children's footprints in white snow...
0:59:17 > 0:59:19..and then they scattered.
0:59:21 > 0:59:25The first steps were dark and lighter,
0:59:25 > 0:59:32so you had to imagine it was bloody...
0:59:32 > 0:59:35and that they must have been horrified as they looked down
0:59:35 > 0:59:39and saw the treads of their own feet, blood-soaked,
0:59:39 > 0:59:42as they ran in different directions.
0:59:42 > 0:59:47And the jury...they looked up at the screen.
0:59:47 > 0:59:48They looked at me.
0:59:49 > 0:59:55And, like uniform animals in one of those documentaries,
0:59:55 > 0:59:58where they all do an alike thing, they all went...
1:00:01 > 1:00:04And it was the last time any one of them could look at me.
1:00:13 > 1:00:15I had just turned 21.
1:00:17 > 1:00:19And they were going to take my life.
1:00:49 > 1:00:56The only science that was available in the early '80s was blood type.
1:00:56 > 1:00:59That was the cutting edge of technology
1:00:59 > 1:01:01as far as identifying someone.
1:01:01 > 1:01:03That was it.
1:01:03 > 1:01:06And there was no real evidence at my trial.
1:01:06 > 1:01:10Not a signed confession, not an eyewitness testimony,
1:01:10 > 1:01:11no murder weapon.
1:01:11 > 1:01:15Nothing but speculation and circumstantial evidence.
1:01:17 > 1:01:21But unfortunately, I shared the same blood group as the murderer.
1:01:21 > 1:01:25And at the time, that made me a near slam dunk
1:01:25 > 1:01:28for being probably the person who did it.
1:01:30 > 1:01:32And then in February of 1988,
1:01:32 > 1:01:36there was this newspaper article about DNA testing.
1:01:37 > 1:01:40And I'm like blown away.
1:01:40 > 1:01:43I can't believe I have the key to my cell in my hands
1:01:43 > 1:01:45because I knew I didn't kill that woman.
1:01:45 > 1:01:48I know none of my biological materials were anywhere near her.
1:01:49 > 1:01:52I wrote to Joe Bullen, my lawyer,
1:01:52 > 1:01:55and I asked him to begin the process of the DNA.
1:01:57 > 1:01:59And the phone call, I can still recall...
1:02:00 > 1:02:04All week, just on pins and needles and then Monday morning
1:02:04 > 1:02:06I get taken downstairs at 10:00am, which is a bad time
1:02:06 > 1:02:08because they've got all the food going.
1:02:08 > 1:02:11They brought in the food trucks and they are just banging
1:02:11 > 1:02:14and clanging these metal plates that they put food on
1:02:14 > 1:02:16and they put them in these racks and run them up these stairs
1:02:16 > 1:02:18and it's just noise and it's all going.
1:02:18 > 1:02:20I get a hold of the secretary first
1:02:20 > 1:02:23and then I get hold of Joe Bullen and he says, "I got news for you."
1:02:23 > 1:02:26"You've got to slow down." I was like, "What? What?"
1:02:26 > 1:02:29He says, "The coroner has explained to me
1:02:29 > 1:02:32"that they've lost all the autopsy material."
1:02:35 > 1:02:38And there was just banging and yelling.
1:02:38 > 1:02:40I didn't hear them.
1:02:40 > 1:02:43I was like, "Slow down. Say that again. What do you mean?"
1:02:43 > 1:02:46I wanted to turn around and just shout, "Just please shut up!"
1:02:46 > 1:02:48I knew that would get my ass whooped.
1:02:48 > 1:02:51So I just stood there shaking with the phone in my hand
1:02:51 > 1:02:53and I said, "What do you mean the autopsy materials?
1:02:53 > 1:02:56"That's the stuff they used at my trial, the evidence at my trial.
1:02:56 > 1:02:58"Is that what you are trying to tell me?
1:02:58 > 1:03:02"All the evidence at my trial has been thrown away?
1:03:02 > 1:03:04"How am I still on death row if after the trial..."
1:03:04 > 1:03:09And I start talking like this and he's yelling into the phone.
1:03:09 > 1:03:12"I said, shut up for a minute and I'll tell you."
1:03:12 > 1:03:15And then in this very supercilious voice,
1:03:15 > 1:03:19he said, "The coroner's office has looked all week
1:03:19 > 1:03:24"and I just got off the phone with them at 9:28am and he's informed me
1:03:24 > 1:03:29"that they've lost all the autopsy material from the Linda Mae..."
1:03:29 > 1:03:32And he's reading from something, like his notes or his crib notes
1:03:32 > 1:03:35of what this conversation was and it was very deadpan.
1:03:35 > 1:03:37I started getting angry and I said,
1:03:37 > 1:03:39"Do you remember when you came to first visit me?
1:03:39 > 1:03:43"You told me I was guilty because of all the overwhelming evidence.
1:03:43 > 1:03:46"Well, where's all the overwhelming evidence when I want DNA, Joe?"
1:03:48 > 1:03:50And he hung up.
1:03:53 > 1:03:56I go back up in my cell and I'm furious.
1:03:56 > 1:04:00I wanted to kill somebody. I was so angry.
1:04:03 > 1:04:06I was out of visits for the month.
1:04:06 > 1:04:10That meant I had to wait until March to see Jackie again
1:04:10 > 1:04:14and explain to her that the evidence was lost and...
1:04:15 > 1:04:17..we had no hope.
1:04:23 > 1:04:25So, erm...
1:04:27 > 1:04:30I went, like, completely blank.
1:04:34 > 1:04:38But then after a while, I started to think,
1:04:38 > 1:04:42that's not possible because at my trial they went on and on
1:04:42 > 1:04:46about how the killer had B positive blood, didn't he?
1:04:47 > 1:04:50And, like, I said to myself, wait a minute, who did the test on that?
1:04:52 > 1:04:55So I started reading the trial transcripts and I found out
1:04:55 > 1:04:58some material was sent to a laboratory at the time of my trial.
1:04:58 > 1:05:01I wrote to the lab director and he wrote me back and he said,
1:05:01 > 1:05:04"Dear Mr Yarris, I have searched my files
1:05:04 > 1:05:08"and we do have two preparations that are unstained
1:05:08 > 1:05:12and they have high weight visible DNA from the sperm."
1:05:12 > 1:05:14And I was like, oh, my God.
1:05:14 > 1:05:18This DNA works, I not only can prove my innocence
1:05:18 > 1:05:21but I can be out of here in a few years.
1:05:22 > 1:05:25And it was like opening up this flood gate to this woman.
1:05:25 > 1:05:27Jackie.
1:05:29 > 1:05:32I married her on July 1, 1988,
1:05:32 > 1:05:35six years to the day that I was sentenced to die.
1:05:39 > 1:05:41I was so in love.
1:05:41 > 1:05:43Oh, my God.
1:05:43 > 1:05:45Oh, my God.
1:05:48 > 1:05:53Like, I was into this thing where music was beautiful.
1:05:53 > 1:05:57If it rained outside and I caught the smell of it through my window,
1:05:57 > 1:06:01even though I couldn't actually see the rain, it was beautiful.
1:06:01 > 1:06:05Like, every little nuance in life was magical.
1:06:06 > 1:06:09And I loved this person in my life so much.
1:06:09 > 1:06:13And I was like offering this person not only hope
1:06:13 > 1:06:16that I could prove myself innocent and get off death row,
1:06:16 > 1:06:19but I could be home and we could begin a life.
1:06:33 > 1:06:36And then one year became two.
1:06:36 > 1:06:37And three.
1:06:40 > 1:06:43It took us five years to get to the DNA test.
1:06:44 > 1:06:46And the results came back inconclusive.
1:06:48 > 1:06:51Inconclusive results due to degradation.
1:07:02 > 1:07:05But then, in a miracle of miracles, the victim's clothing
1:07:05 > 1:07:10was located in a clerk's office at the courthouse.
1:07:13 > 1:07:16My mother had recoiled in horror at the end of my trial
1:07:16 > 1:07:20when my parents were almost accidentally given a box marked "Yarris"
1:07:20 > 1:07:24and inside of it was the victim's blood soaked clothing.
1:07:24 > 1:07:26And she remembered that and she told the custodian,
1:07:26 > 1:07:29"Don't you remember how you almost gave me the victim's clothing?"
1:07:29 > 1:07:31And he said, "Oh, that's right."
1:07:31 > 1:07:35And he went off and found the victim's clothing.
1:07:37 > 1:07:41Those clothes yielded sperm from the victim's underwear
1:07:41 > 1:07:45and it was high weight and there was a lot of it.
1:07:47 > 1:07:49Cuttings were placed into these tubes
1:07:49 > 1:07:53and then they were sent to Germantown, Maryland, for keeping.
1:07:53 > 1:07:59It took me from 1993 to 1997 to finally get court approval
1:07:59 > 1:08:03for the foremost authority of DNA in America to do the DNA testing.
1:08:03 > 1:08:06Hallelujah! I got Dr Blake.
1:08:06 > 1:08:08He already did the OJ Simpson case,
1:08:08 > 1:08:10he's very famous, very well respected.
1:08:10 > 1:08:11He's the man.
1:08:17 > 1:08:21They take the new evidence and they send it down to California.
1:08:21 > 1:08:25And they improperly package it and it burst open in transit.
1:08:28 > 1:08:30And Dr Blake says, "We're not going to test it.
1:08:30 > 1:08:32"All it would do is produce results
1:08:32 > 1:08:34"that would be contested by the prosecution.
1:08:34 > 1:08:36"I'm not going to test it."
1:08:36 > 1:08:38And he just put it on a shelf.
1:08:40 > 1:08:43It killed a part of my marriage and it killed a part of Jackie
1:08:43 > 1:08:45and it killed a part of me.
1:08:48 > 1:08:52She fought with me for nine years to get DNA
1:08:52 > 1:08:55and she just said, "Nicky, I can't do this any more."
1:08:58 > 1:09:00I said, "Man, go."
1:09:05 > 1:09:08I went back to my cell and I was just sitting there by the window
1:09:08 > 1:09:11listening to the radio and this song came on.
1:09:11 > 1:09:13I was listening to the lyrics, you know.
1:09:14 > 1:09:17"They say that you're leaving.
1:09:17 > 1:09:19"It comes as no surprise.
1:09:19 > 1:09:22"And still I like this feeling of being left behind."
1:09:25 > 1:09:28I was listening to the lyrics and I was thinking...
1:09:29 > 1:09:31You always do that to me.
1:09:31 > 1:09:34You always torment me with words from someone else's song
1:09:34 > 1:09:36and suddenly they're my words.
1:09:36 > 1:09:38and they are ingrained in my thoughts.
1:09:42 > 1:09:45Even though I was being told they were leaving,
1:09:45 > 1:09:49I still kind of liked that feeling of being left behind.
1:09:51 > 1:09:55It's a strange phenomenon when you felt good for their leaving
1:09:55 > 1:10:00because you knew all along you had stolen a lot of their life away.
1:10:00 > 1:10:04# It's just like going home. #
1:10:05 > 1:10:08On a December night, on a snowing night,
1:10:08 > 1:10:12just like the lyrics said, I just started writing this letter.
1:10:15 > 1:10:17I wasn't crying or upset or anything.
1:10:17 > 1:10:22I simply sat down and tried to tell somebody why I loved them
1:10:22 > 1:10:27and why saying goodbye to them was this wonderful gift.
1:10:27 > 1:10:30I knew she didn't have to fight for me any more.
1:10:30 > 1:10:33I knew she didn't have to make copies of my legal documents
1:10:33 > 1:10:37and send them back to me, call lawyers, chase up new DNA.
1:10:37 > 1:10:41She didn't have to go and chase up my mum or any of these other things.
1:10:41 > 1:10:43She could just be free.
1:10:43 > 1:10:45One of us.
1:10:52 > 1:10:54You see, at the end,
1:10:54 > 1:10:57that wonderful gift that was given to me for so long,
1:10:57 > 1:11:01I didn't cling, trying to hold on to what wasn't mine anyway
1:11:01 > 1:11:03because it was a gift.
1:11:03 > 1:11:05It was like a ten year confirmation
1:11:05 > 1:11:07that I was becoming that person that I liked.
1:11:07 > 1:11:09I was so proud of that.
1:11:11 > 1:11:13I woke up to a different person.
1:11:28 > 1:11:32By now, I had been in prison for 18 years.
1:11:32 > 1:11:34And that's when I got sick.
1:11:34 > 1:11:37I lost 31 pounds in a month and a half.
1:11:37 > 1:11:40I was really feeling poorly and then I had blood work done
1:11:40 > 1:11:42and they told me what it was.
1:11:42 > 1:11:46I'm infected with this strain of hepatitis C
1:11:46 > 1:11:49that all the men who had dental work at Huntington had contracted.
1:11:50 > 1:11:5415 other men had got this hepatitis.
1:11:57 > 1:12:02So the first guy to die was DC, Dale Carter.
1:12:02 > 1:12:05He died in the vents underneath me screaming in agony.
1:12:05 > 1:12:07Oh, my God.
1:12:07 > 1:12:09So when I found out I immediately said
1:12:09 > 1:12:12"Yes, I'll take the drug treatments. I'll sign up for it."
1:12:12 > 1:12:15But the years of drug abuse had damaged my kidneys
1:12:15 > 1:12:18and after about seven months I started suffering
1:12:18 > 1:12:21all the side effects of this drug.
1:12:21 > 1:12:25I was peeing this horrible coffee-coloured urine.
1:12:27 > 1:12:29Everything tasted dead in my mouth.
1:12:29 > 1:12:31I was just not right.
1:12:35 > 1:12:37And then it was August.
1:12:37 > 1:12:39I was out in the exercise yard.
1:12:41 > 1:12:42I was so weak.
1:12:44 > 1:12:46I was looking directly up at the sky.
1:12:47 > 1:12:50And then...
1:12:50 > 1:12:52I couldn't see anything. It went blank.
1:12:54 > 1:12:58I knew what darkness is, but this was black.
1:13:02 > 1:13:04And that's when I found out I was dying.
1:13:09 > 1:13:11I was so afraid that...
1:13:11 > 1:13:13I was shaking. I really was.
1:13:14 > 1:13:18And so I remember I stuck to my ritual.
1:13:18 > 1:13:21I stood over the top of the toilet bowl and I bathed
1:13:21 > 1:13:25and I was doing the same ritual, bathing, three days later
1:13:25 > 1:13:27and I saw these swirls around my thighs
1:13:27 > 1:13:30and I realised I was seeing swirls.
1:13:30 > 1:13:33So if I was seeing swirls, then I was seeing.
1:13:37 > 1:13:38OK.
1:13:39 > 1:13:42The very first thing I did later on that evening
1:13:42 > 1:13:44was I sat by a very bright light at my desk
1:13:44 > 1:13:47and I wrote a letter to the judge handling my appeals.
1:13:50 > 1:13:53And another song, Patty Griffin's "Gonna Let Him Fly".
1:13:55 > 1:13:58It's so strange because the lyrics are obviously a love song,
1:13:58 > 1:14:00but to me it was all about me.
1:14:00 > 1:14:02"Ain't no talking to this man.
1:14:03 > 1:14:05"Ain't no pretty other side."
1:14:09 > 1:14:11It's so true.
1:14:12 > 1:14:16There was absolutely no pretty side to hope for any more.
1:14:17 > 1:14:20No Jackies, no love, none of those things that you could have
1:14:20 > 1:14:22a pretty other side to hope for.
1:14:22 > 1:14:25# Ain't no talking to this man
1:14:26 > 1:14:28# Ain't no pretty other side
1:14:30 > 1:14:34# Ain't no way to understand
1:14:35 > 1:14:37# The stupid words of pride
1:14:39 > 1:14:42# It would take an acrobat
1:14:43 > 1:14:45# I already tried all that
1:14:46 > 1:14:49# So I'm gonna let him fly
1:14:51 > 1:14:53# I'm gonna let him fly
1:14:54 > 1:14:57# Things can move at such a pace
1:14:59 > 1:15:02# The second hand just waved goodbye. #
1:15:03 > 1:15:06"Dear Judge Giles, as a criminal plaintiff
1:15:06 > 1:15:11"I ask that one right that I have remaining to me
1:15:11 > 1:15:15"as a condemned prisoner be recognised.
1:15:15 > 1:15:18"And that is a condemned man's right to be executed."
1:15:19 > 1:15:22# I'm gonna let him fly. #
1:15:22 > 1:15:26"I hereby ask that counsel be dismissed,
1:15:26 > 1:15:30"that my record be then transmitted to Governor Edward Rendell
1:15:30 > 1:15:33"for my execution date to be set
1:15:33 > 1:15:36"within 60 days of receipt of this letter."
1:15:36 > 1:15:38# Took a while to understand
1:15:39 > 1:15:42# The beauty of just letting go. #
1:15:43 > 1:15:47"I hereby swear that I am sane at the time of this writing.
1:15:47 > 1:15:50# I've already tried all that. #
1:15:50 > 1:15:52"Signed, Nicholas James Yarris.
1:15:52 > 1:15:55"August 2002."
1:15:57 > 1:15:59# Oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh
1:15:59 > 1:16:02# I'm gonna let him fly
1:16:02 > 1:16:04# Fly
1:16:04 > 1:16:07# Yeah
1:16:07 > 1:16:13# I'm gonna let him fly. #
1:16:22 > 1:16:25When the letter was received by Judge Giles,
1:16:25 > 1:16:30he ordered that my lawyers come to a conference hearing
1:16:30 > 1:16:34and he wanted to know why someone who had been asking
1:16:34 > 1:16:38for DNA testing for 15 years claiming that they are innocent
1:16:38 > 1:16:41would now ask to be executed?
1:16:41 > 1:16:43And he was really hard pressed
1:16:43 > 1:16:45to get them to give up any answer I guess,
1:16:45 > 1:16:48because I didn't copy them in on the letter
1:16:48 > 1:16:50and they didn't even know I wrote to the judge
1:16:50 > 1:16:52so they were hearing this for the first time.
1:16:52 > 1:16:56So the judge, by law, really was hamstrung in the fact
1:16:56 > 1:17:00that he was going to be required to transmit my record to the governor
1:17:00 > 1:17:02as law required for me to be executed
1:17:02 > 1:17:04within 60 days from that point.
1:17:04 > 1:17:06Instead he said,
1:17:06 > 1:17:09"All right, whatever DNA testing is remaining in this case
1:17:09 > 1:17:12"I'm ordering it now tested."
1:17:12 > 1:17:14And that was April.
1:17:15 > 1:17:18April turned to May. May turned to June.
1:17:19 > 1:17:22July 2nd, 2003.
1:17:23 > 1:17:25I wasn't expecting the results.
1:17:25 > 1:17:28For some reason, when he brought the phone to my cell,
1:17:28 > 1:17:32I really wasn't expecting to talk to my lawyers about Dr Blake.
1:17:32 > 1:17:35But he gave me the phone and said, "Your lawyer wants you to call."
1:17:35 > 1:17:37So I dialled the number
1:17:37 > 1:17:40and I'm waiting for the collect phone call process to ring through
1:17:40 > 1:17:43and it does and on the other end was Michael Wiseman,
1:17:43 > 1:17:46a lawyer who had been representing me for seven years.
1:17:48 > 1:17:51When I heard Michael Wiseman say...
1:17:52 > 1:17:54"I just got off the phone with Dr Blake.
1:17:57 > 1:18:01"The gloves that were left inside the victim's vehicle
1:18:01 > 1:18:06"were found to have DNA from an unknown male,
1:18:06 > 1:18:11"DNA from Mrs Craig and DNA from the sperm matching the killer's gloves."
1:18:11 > 1:18:14That was it. I didn't have to hear anything else.
1:18:14 > 1:18:16I knew.
1:18:16 > 1:18:19You didn't have to tell Nick Yarris what those results meant.
1:18:19 > 1:18:21I started screaming, "Oh, my God! Oh, my God!
1:18:21 > 1:18:23"It proves me innocent! Don't you see?!"
1:18:28 > 1:18:32The guard came back to collect the phone and he saw me huddled.
1:18:34 > 1:18:37Crying on the bed.
1:18:37 > 1:18:39In the foetal position.
1:18:41 > 1:18:42And he said...
1:18:44 > 1:18:46"Nick, what's up?"
1:18:46 > 1:18:50And I lifted my head up and I just shook my head
1:18:50 > 1:18:53because I didn't even have the strength to say anything, you know.
1:18:56 > 1:18:58And he said, "Go down to the shower and take a shower."
1:19:00 > 1:19:02And I got up, I put on my shower shoes
1:19:02 > 1:19:05and I started trudging towards the shower.
1:19:06 > 1:19:09And he opened the gate down on the end of the block
1:19:09 > 1:19:13and he walked into the shower and he put a chair in there.
1:19:13 > 1:19:16And as I got the last few steps there...
1:19:17 > 1:19:21..he grabbed my arm gently and he sat me down
1:19:21 > 1:19:25and he just pushed the button and left me there.
1:19:27 > 1:19:29And I cried.
1:19:31 > 1:19:35I cried like you wouldn't believe, man.
1:19:35 > 1:19:37I waited 15 years to cry.
1:20:06 > 1:20:09The happiest memory I ever had...
1:20:10 > 1:20:15..is that we lived at 2439 Milan Street.
1:20:15 > 1:20:17Just like Italy. Milan.
1:20:19 > 1:20:25There was a fibreglass awning attached to the front of our roof.
1:20:27 > 1:20:31And whenever it rained, it gave off this hollow drumming sound
1:20:31 > 1:20:35that just drew me out of wherever I was and whatever I was doing.
1:20:36 > 1:20:39And I would get a blanket
1:20:39 > 1:20:42and Jaco my dog, who was a little black poodle,
1:20:42 > 1:20:44and we would go out and sit on this lounge chair
1:20:44 > 1:20:46that was set up like a deckchair.
1:20:48 > 1:20:51And there, under this tattered old green blanket
1:20:52 > 1:20:54I would listen to the rain
1:20:54 > 1:20:59and play out all these daydreams in my head of adventures I would have.
1:21:00 > 1:21:02And it was like this...
1:21:03 > 1:21:04..cocoon.
1:21:05 > 1:21:08All I had was that blanket and the dog
1:21:08 > 1:21:10and this...
1:21:12 > 1:21:14..feeling that I was on a journey.
1:21:26 > 1:21:29I remember as I ran out the door with Jaco,
1:21:29 > 1:21:32the last thing Mum said was,
1:21:32 > 1:21:35"Don't you dare get those school clothes dirty!"
1:21:39 > 1:21:41It was still early. Early, like April.
1:21:42 > 1:21:45And in Philadelphia in the springtime it's just beautiful.
1:21:47 > 1:21:52Like 67, 68 degrees and you just get these very nice days.
1:21:53 > 1:21:56So Jaco and I were just like throwing the stick
1:21:56 > 1:21:59and doing the things that we loved to do.
1:22:01 > 1:22:05And I was walking along deeper into the woods,
1:22:05 > 1:22:06when I saw him.
1:22:08 > 1:22:09I said, "Damn."
1:22:09 > 1:22:11I was so afraid of him.
1:22:15 > 1:22:19The hobnail boots, denim jeans, white T-shirt,
1:22:19 > 1:22:23armband rolled up with a pack of Lucky Strikes in the sleeve.
1:22:26 > 1:22:28And he said, "Fuck are you doing?"
1:22:28 > 1:22:30Like that, you know.
1:22:33 > 1:22:34"Take it."
1:22:36 > 1:22:38I looked up towards the houses.
1:22:39 > 1:22:42Then I went like that. And he said, "No, puff."
1:22:42 > 1:22:43And I went...
1:22:43 > 1:22:45And I just got...
1:22:47 > 1:22:52My head went crazy and I heard this sound.
1:22:52 > 1:22:53HE CLAPS
1:22:55 > 1:22:59And it was the stone that was in his hand that he hit me with.
1:23:00 > 1:23:05And then I felt him bend down and he turned me
1:23:05 > 1:23:10so that our shoulders were parallel and my leg was on his arm there.
1:23:10 > 1:23:13And he was raping me.
1:23:13 > 1:23:16And he was making this, like, guttural sound.
1:23:17 > 1:23:20I started, like, whimpering.
1:23:20 > 1:23:23He's like, "Shut the fuck up! Shut the fuck up!
1:23:23 > 1:23:26"I'll fucking kill Jaco and your whole family if you say to anybody.
1:23:26 > 1:23:29"You understand me? I'm not a faggot! I'm not a fucking faggot!
1:23:29 > 1:23:30"You understand me?"
1:23:33 > 1:23:35Then he left and I screamed.
1:23:35 > 1:23:37I was like, "Jaco!"
1:23:38 > 1:23:40I kept screaming for Jaco.
1:23:45 > 1:23:49One of the things that he said to me when he was putting his pants right.
1:23:51 > 1:23:54He looked at me and he said, "You tell everybody you fell off a wall
1:23:54 > 1:23:57"with that shopping cart over there. You hear me?"
1:24:00 > 1:24:04He like gave me this quick rundown of what to say.
1:24:06 > 1:24:10And as soon as I told the first lie,
1:24:10 > 1:24:14it was like once it was believed, it was so hard to undo.
1:24:16 > 1:24:17It spiralled.
1:24:19 > 1:24:21And then...
1:24:21 > 1:24:23..everything changed.
1:24:37 > 1:24:41From that day I found out I was proven innocent from science,
1:24:41 > 1:24:44it still took me seven more months.
1:24:44 > 1:24:46I went back to death row
1:24:46 > 1:24:50and I found out they took everything out of my death row cell
1:24:50 > 1:24:53and then they took me to this unit.
1:24:54 > 1:24:59I was beside myself. They took me to H block, the mental ward.
1:25:00 > 1:25:03"What are you doing to me?" I didn't understand.
1:25:03 > 1:25:07I went over and I saw Major Locket, the major of the guards.
1:25:07 > 1:25:10I said, "What's going on? Why am I here?"
1:25:10 > 1:25:15And he said, "Mr Yarris, after the experience that you had
1:25:15 > 1:25:18"we don't want to risk any of the staff
1:25:18 > 1:25:21"being murdered by you in a rage
1:25:21 > 1:25:24"in recognition for what we have done to you."
1:25:28 > 1:25:30I went back to my cell.
1:25:31 > 1:25:35And I had a plastic milk carton and that was it.
1:25:35 > 1:25:38A plastic mattress, two sheets, two towels,
1:25:38 > 1:25:42a pillowcase for that plastic pillow and that was it.
1:25:43 > 1:25:48They took every book, they took my artwork, they took every comfort.
1:25:51 > 1:25:53And I sat down on my bed
1:25:54 > 1:25:56and I said,
1:25:58 > 1:26:00"Oh, my God. They did me a favour."
1:26:02 > 1:26:06I folded my legs, I sat straight in my yoga position.
1:26:10 > 1:26:13And I started to dream of the life I was going to have.
1:26:13 > 1:26:15I was going to have a great life.
1:26:15 > 1:26:17I'm going to meet me a girl, I'm going to fall in love.
1:26:17 > 1:26:22I'm going to have a family and best of all I'm going to be a great dad.
1:26:22 > 1:26:24That's what I'm going to do.
1:26:24 > 1:26:26If you're going to take everything from me,
1:26:26 > 1:26:29OK, then instead...
1:26:31 > 1:26:34I think I'll give myself everything.