03x05 - Rolling the Dice

[bunniefuu]

I took my responsibility.

Nothing I can say or do

could bring him back.

I messed up, you know, and

gotta man up

and, you know, own up to your actions.

I've been in prison

over a decade already.

It's wrong. That's messed up.

I was a victim myself in this, you know?

And I can't I can't do nothing about it.

I can't defend myself.

I cannot say nothing.

As far as investigations go,

it was what we call a cluster.

We had three defendants whose stories

continually changed.

All three of them initially claimed

no knowledge of the incident,

no knowledge of a taxicab ride.

We had three guys

who were downright allergic to the truth.

My name is Chucky Phillips,

and I've been sentenced to 20 to life

for m*rder in the second.

I was born in Syracuse, New York.

Grew up playing sports.

I was definitely a jock in high school.

I was always the captain of the team,

you know, whatever sport I played.

I had dreams of going to the NFL or MLB,

you know.

They were my dreams in those

Be a professional athlete one day.

It wasn't till, well, high school

I started getting in trouble.

About freshman year,

I started hanging out with the wrong guys,

you know.

After school, you know,

running the streets.

You know, chasing after girls.

There was a period I was in selling drugs,

at one point, uh

Teenage boy stuff, you know?

I met Eduardo

I would say maybe 2007.

He dated my sister.

That's how we got cool.

All right.

My name is Eduardo Trinidad,

and I was convicted for m*rder,

40 years to life.

I was born in Puerto Rico,

and I was also raised over there.

I grew up in a foster home

'cause my mom had passed.

My father wasn't never there for me.

I was really quiet, uh

Always timid.

Um, but

I mean, I wasn't a bad person at all.

I came out here

to the United States for a better life.

I had, like,

work in construction, um, mechanic.

I know plumbing, I know electricity.

Um, they called me a little MacGyver.

I did a little bit of everything around.

My main purpose that same night

was because my son was born that night.

Um, I made it to Syracuse around,

I'd say eleven o'clock, around there,

almost midnight.

So, the visiting hours in the hospitals

are closed. I can't go there.

So, I went to Chu

I went with Chucky to the party.

Um, and like that, that's how I met

the other guy, DeJesus.

I think the party was

about ten to twelve people.

Wasn't no more than that.

In my part, I wanted to enjoy it

'cause, you know, I'm happy.

I was gonna have my newborn son,

and I wanted to celebrate that.

We did a lot of drinking,

uh, mixing liquor,

beer, you know, various types of pills,

ecstasy, Xanax. There was marijuana there.

We was all pretty wasted.

One of the guys had a g*n,

you know.

Even at the party,

it was passed around the party.

The guys at the party wanted to hold it.

Everybody wanted to look at it

and touch it.

The g*n

Who brung it, I don't know.

I touched it, yeah.

I went outside,

trying to use it, but it didn't work.

Um, after that,

I don't know who who got it.

The owner of the apartment got mad

and started kicking everybody out.

I was sitting

behind the passenger.

DeJesus was in the middle,

and Chucky Phillips was behind the driver.

Nobody was talking.

The only one that was doing the talking

was me 'cause I was on the phone,

talking to, um, my kid's mom

that's in the hospital.

When we get in the city,

someone says, "Make a right, right here."

So we turn off the main road.

And I notice that's not my street.

That's when I said, "Okay,

we must be running

because this is not my street."

You know, just It was gonna be like

not pay for a taxi ride, just run.

You know, young stupid kids' stuff,

you know?

All I heard was the car going slow.

I didn't even know that the g*n

was in the cab when we left.

I see Denny take the g*n,

and he pulls it on the driver.

So I think maybe he's going to rob him.

The driver grabs the g*n from him,

and there's a struggle.

So, I don't know why, I just

I grabbed it, and I yanked it from him.

And

I shot him.

I was opening the door

when I heard a boom.

I ran out of the car

and ran between some houses.

I came back down

to see where was the guys,

and I didn't see the the cab driver.

The car wasn't there anymore.

So, I thought that everything was cool

and I went back to the house.

I went up the hill, went to the house,

and they was already there.

In the morning was

when they came and arrested us.

We all got arrested

and got taken down to the prison.

My name is Ted Kiefer.

I was one of the investigators

involved in the Timothy Gordon homicide.

I believe that this went

from jumping the fare,

to a robbery,

ultimately to a m*rder.

After being shot,

Mr. Gordon traveled

about one mile.

And I believe he was in some sort

of severe shock

with the trauma to his head,

being shot at close range.

Where he ended up was where,

ultimately, we got involved initially.

The scene of his motor vehicle accident.

Mr. Gordon was traveling

in this direction, towards us.

When he got to the intersection,

he failed to stop at the stop sign,

or turn right or left.

As such, at a high rate of speed,

he traveled across this street,

entered into this driveway here,

colliding with a parked vehicle.

It was a horrible, horrible crash.

And it was all the result

of a senseless crime.

Timmy Gordon was just

out trying to earn a living.

The fare he picked up couldn't have been

more than a twenty dollar bill.

I guess the emotion

is just the true senselessness of it.

The fact that for for a ride home

on a bitter cold night,

it cost this man who's out working,

not sleeping like

the rest of civilization,

it cost him his life

for less than a 20 dollar bill.

It generates a lot of emotion.

When I first laid eyes

on these defendants, all three of them,

I thought to myself,

"These are little boys."

"They're young men at best."

I couldn't believe

how young they appeared.

Mr. Trinidad was known

to our g*ng violence task force.

They had a file on him.

They knew him by his nickname: Ba La.

Trinidad volunteers

that Chucky Phillips and himself

are active members

of the Latin Kings street g*ng.

Eduardo Trinidad placed all the blame

on Denny DeJesus.

Chucky Phillips, he did the same.

So we had two people

placing all the blame on Denny DeJesus.

What shocked most of us

investigating the case

was that these three so-called friends,

two of these friends were willing

to throw the third friend under the bus

for something he didn't do.

Cop or no cop, in my opinion,

that's pretty grimy.

Willing to throw

somebody else's life away.

According to Trinidad,

he was merely going to jump the fare,

but at some point during jumping the fare,

he was alerted by Chucky

to come back to the scene.

He could've kept on running.

He got out of the cab and left.

He could have kept running. He didn't.

He turns, he goes back to the cab,

and according to him,

he was going to help

run the cabbie's pockets.

However, there was too much blood

on the cabbie, and at the scene.

So any claims

that Mr. Trinidad might have

about being a passive observer,

according to his own statement, he wasn't.

Felony m*rder, a classic example

would be the bank robbery.

Let's say multiple individuals

decide to rob a bank.

One individual stays outside

to actively be the lookout.

Other individuals go inside.

The g*n is discharged,

and an innocent security guard is k*lled.

All three people could be liable,

because they had the shared intent

to rob the bank.

So, it is a way

to hold all participants liable

for the death of another

during the course of a felony.

My name is Kerry Buske. I was one

of the assistant district attorneys

assigned to prosecute the case

of the People of the State of New York

versus Chucky Phillips, Denny DeJesus,

and Eduardo Trinidad.

Plea bargaining gets cases resolved.

From the prosecution standpoint,

they won't have to put their victim,

their victim's family, their witnesses

through every single case,

and they can save resources.

In exchange for that guilty plea,

the People will often offer

a reduced sentence, or a reduced charge.

Chucky Phillips did apologize.

He did show a degree of remorse and regret

for this horrific action.

And that, I think,

is reflective in his 20 to life sentence.

I was really surprised that Eduardo

didn't want to try to negotiate something.

Maybe he didn't want to take exactly

what we were offering,

but that he wasn't coming,

trying to negotiate us down.

Even up to the morning of the trial,

I remember going in

for jury selection thinking,

"I think he's probably gonna plea,

'cause the blood of the victim

is on his coat,"

and he said he ran the pockets of the guy.

He was clearly notified

of the potential ramifications

of what could happen

after a conviction by jury.

He chose to not take that plea,

to reject it,

and to take the case to trial.

He's allowed to do that.

It is the People's burden to prove

their case beyond a reasonable doubt.

It was called upon us to do it.

And we did it.

He was convicted of all three counts,

and he was sentenced

by a county court judge.

Why I plead

not guilty instead of plea bargain?

Because I wasn't gonna allow them

to try to have me say I'm guilty

for something I didn't do.

We didn't participate together on it,

you know what I'm saying?

Nobody pointed me

as the guy who pulled the trigger.

Nobody.

I wasn't shocked, um,

when I heard them say guilty, or whatever.

At first, I was I didn't believe it.

I I didn't have the feeling

of believing it.

Hell It's a decade lost already

with my kids.

They're already grown-ups, um

I lost all that part, um

Um, that's pretty something like

messed up, you know?

I feel very sorry

for Timothy Gordon's family and friends.

I did not, at one point

during this recording

hear one mention

of a man's life that was innocently

Um, an innocent man's life

that was brutally taken from him.

He doesn't like the concept

of felony m*rder.

He doesn't like the fact

that he was held responsible,

even though he wasn't the sh**ter.

And he is angry at the law

he was prosecuted under.

He mentions his own children.

You know, Timothy Gordon is never

gonna get to have his children,

he's never gonna get

to call home to them.

So this is essentially, in my opinion,

the same Ba La that stood up at sentencing

after a jury found him guilty,

and said, "This is an injustice,

and I'm gonna fight it

till the bitter end."

That's what he's doing. Um

it's just a complete disregard for

the evidence that was presented at trial,

and a complete disregard

for a man's life that was lost.

I'm still trying

to figure out to this day, like

Why?

I can't even tell you the answer, like

I wasn't in my right state of mind. Um

It's hard to explain, because

I think it was a combination

of alcohol and pills mixing, you know?

Worst mistake of my life.

You know, I think about it every day.

You know, not only that I took a life,

but I ruined my life.

The g*n was Trinidad's.

He brought it from Utica.

Just the lifestyle,

the lifestyle he lived, you know.

I don't know if he needed it

for protection or he just need

He wanted it,

just the lifestyle he lived.

You know, I I took my responsibility.

My part's played. I pled guilty.

People don't usually plead guilty.

I felt that it was the right thing to do,

you know?

I feel bad for the parties involved,

you know, like the deceased

co-defendants.

Trinidad, his sentence blew my mind

'cause he got 40 to life

for going to trial.

It's just It don't make sense how

if I pled guilty

and he went to trial,

he gets more time than me

for the same crime.

It makes me believe that,

okay, I did the right thing

with taking a plea deal,

because I would have had 40 to life.

There's no question about that.

Denny has always been consistent

that he did not know

there was going to be any sh**ting.

He had no concept

that they were going to use the g*n

that had been played with at the party.

I believe that Denny DeJesus did pay

for what Chucky Phillips

and Eduardo Trinidad did.

However, the fact that Eduardo Trinidad

is serving 40 years to life

and the sh**ter is serving

20 years to life,

this is one of the big injustices

of the criminal justice system.

I'm not saying that Trinidad is innocent.

I'm saying that his sentence

is hugely disproportionate.

The fact that he was guilty

did not warrant

double the sentence of the sh**ter.

People are being penalized for

exercising their right to a jury trial.

I do have a deeply ingrained sense

of justice and fairness,

and plea bargaining

goes against some of that grain.

Everybody accused of a crime

in the United States

has the right to a fair trial by a jury.

And, if they are coerced

into pleading guilty

by the fact that if they go to trial

and they get found guilty,

they are going to get

a much harsher sentence

than what they would get

if they plead guilty,

it's it's violating the Constitution.

I believe that equal sentences

for Trinidad and Chucky Phillips

would have been completely appropriate.

Obviously, with plea bargaining

there is going to be some disparity,

but two times as much?

This case is just

shouting

"Injust Unjust result."

The name is Bill Walsh.

I was a county court judge

in Onondaga County for 11 years.

My recollection of Eduardo Trinidad was

that he was fairly aloof during the trial.

I can't remember how much

he participated with his lawyer,

but I had the distinct feeling that

he's what the Irish would call a hard man.

Uh

What I heard during the trial

was just how cold and senseless

the crime itself was.

It just didn't need to happen.

They could have taken the money

and they could have left. But they didn't.

Mr. Gordon picked them up,

took them where they wanted,

did everything that he was supposed to do,

and was rewarded with a b*llet

in the back of the head.

And that was just senseless.

Had Mr. Trinidad elected

to plead guilty,

in all likelihood,

his sentence would've been less,

because if he waives his right to appeal,

that ends it.

Two co-defendants

have already pled guilty,

uh, and that would've been the third,

and it would've ended for the family.

They wouldn't have to

have relived it a second time.

And I think that was very damaging

to the family.

The anguish you could see

on their faces was heartbreaking.

And I felt that he could have

spared them that, and he did not.

And he was punished appropriately

with the maximum sentence

permissible under the law.

He was sentenced to the maximum,

under the m*rder conviction,

of a minimum of 25 years

and a maximum of life in prison,

and he received 15 years on the

criminal possession of a weapons charge.

He could be sentenced consecutively,

which I did.

So, uh that was, uh

It was a pretty sizable sentence.

I base my decision

as to an appropriate sentence

on what I hear during the trial.

If you roll the dice, doesn't pay off,

there's a price to be paid for that.

Chucky with 20, and me with 40 to life.

I don't think that's fair.

My life's been destroyed.

I would have been going with my kids,

trying to enjoy life.

Trying to give my kids things I never had

Uh, parents.

I would have tried to give that to them,

tried to break the cycle,

try to bring a better My life with

with our family, as well.

My earliest

release for parole will be in 2047.

I think I'll be around 70

around that time.

It will be a whole wasted lifetime.

At that time, you won't be able

to manage nothing. What can you do?

Well, it was interesting hearing from him.

I think that was the first time

that I've really heard from him,

but, uh

I would probably expect

that same, uh,

same type of speech from virtually

any defendant that I sentenced

that wound up in jail after being

convicted of a crime by a jury. Uh

He maintains his innocence

and that doesn't come

as much of a surprise, but, uh,

Mr. Trinidad elected to go to trial,

he was found guilty

by a jury of his peers,

and he was sentenced accordingly.

And he absolutely deserves

to be where he is today.

The sh**ting would not have happened

had not Mr. Trinidad

given Mr. Phillips the g*n.

Without that assistance,

there would be no m*rder.

There would be no m*rder charge

against either one of them.

It would've simply been a robbery.

But he chose

to assist Mr. Phillips

in the taking of a human life,

and he is just as guilty

as the fellow who pulled the trigger.

And I'm very comfortable

with what I sentenced him to.

I chose to fight for my rights.

And I think everybody has the right

to do that.

The system is broken.

And they're doing to people just like me,

all the time.

All the time. Always.

We got to be real about that.

He goes back

to the cab, and according to him,

he was going to help

run the cabbie's pockets.

However, there was too much blood

on the cabbie and at the scene.

No, it was not about running pockets

or nothing, you know what I'm saying?

I was really worrying about what happened,

you know what I'm saying?

I came running back down.

Yeah, and my intention was,

if there's nobody around

who could help him, I'm gonna help him.

But he was gone.

So I thought it was all right.

I thought nothing really bad happened,

you know what I'm saying?

Until I seen it on the news.

That's when my heart broke for real.

The g*n was Trinidad's.

He brought it from Utica.

Just the

lifestyle, the lifestyle he lived,

you know.

I don't know if he needed it

for protection or he just need

He wanted it,

just the lifestyle he lived.

No, um, I did come from Utica.

But not with a weapon.

That weapon was already there.

That got nothing to do with me.

Trinidad's sentence blew my mind 'cause

he got 40 to life for going to trial.

It just shows

the justice system is unfair.

No, it wasn't fair at all.

I just came for my newborn son.

I came for my newborn son.

And didn't made it. Didn't made it, um

I mean

I know a lot of people

They're gonna look at it, like,

lied, or whatever the position is, but

um, I just came

to celebrate my son, to see him,

to hold him in my hand, you know?

At least to accomplish something

that my dad didn't do.

And, um

I guess I got a

I didn't have the opportunity.

I wasn't having enough luck for that.

I destroyed ten years

of my life already on this.

Is this really justice?