Mass Exoneration: Coming September 2018 (Trailer)
From Boston, Massachusetts, this is Mass Exoneration, a new podcast about people convicted of crimes — crimes they never committed -- and what happened next, for them, and for the people they had to leave behind.
TRANSCRIPT
BRIAN PILCHIK This podcast contains explicit language and mature content. It might not be appropriate for all listeners. FRED CLAY I was crying. And I was scared. Seventeen years old, going to a state prison with a natural life sentence for a crime I didn’t commit. Not knowing how I was gonna to survive, and didn’t know if I want to survive. BRIAN PILCHIK From Boston Massachusetts, this is Mass Exoneration, a new podcast about people convicted of crimes — crimes they never committed — and what happened next, for them, and for the people they had to leave behind. CRYSTAL SQUIRES And so I was about five, five and a half when he was just gone one day. NAT COSENZA I remember the first time, when I first walked into Walpole, I’m not gonna lie, I was scared shitless. Just seeing the bars, from the floor to the ceiling, and they’re probly two story ceilings. And it just cuts off right in the middle of the hallway. And you just realize you’re in a whole different animal. One of the most dangerous places around. FRED CLAY In the beginning, I thought if I continue to tell the truth, that will set me free. NAT COSENZA The hardest thing in prison wasn’t prison. It was dealing with my daughters. Listening to them on the phone, begging me to come home. Crying of how they want to give me a hug. Just these simple words of, “I want you.” It messes you up. Bad. ALISIA COSENZA I mean for ten years we were just talking, you know, between the glass, and all we could do at the end of a session, instead of hug each other, at the end of a session was just put our hands up to the glass and, you know, match his as if we were holding it. FRED CLAY They wasn’t trying to let me out, regardless of what evidence I put in their face. They wanted someone to pay for the crime and they didn’t really care who it was, innocent man or not. To me, all they was interested in was getting a conviction. BRIAN PILCHIK At first, no one believed they were innocent. Each of them went to trial. They had a jury, a jury of people like you. And the jury got it wrong. Now, they’re free to tell their stories — and so are their children, their parents, their lawyers: everyone who lived through it, from arrest to exoneration. CRYSTAL SQUIRES Stuff was first hit, hitting about Bernie got arrested, and of course everyone believed what they read in the media. And so I just remember that night like a rock being thrown through my grandmother’s window with the word faggot written on it. VICTOR ROSARIO Because people believe whatever they read. They believe it. And when you believe that, you don’t know how much damage you can cause to another person. I even can no sleep, because one guy from another cell is screaming, “You a baby killer.” And knowingly in your heart, knowing in your mind, that you are innocent man, it was like the whole world was against me. No trust me, no believe in me. And it was only my trust in god, and myself. NAT COSENZA My name is Natale Cosenza. FRED CLAY My name is Frederick Clay CRYSTAL SQUIRES I’m Crystal Squires, and Bernard Baran was my uncle. VICTOR ROSARIO My name is Victor Rosario. FRED CLAY I spent 38 years. CRYSTAL SQUIRES 21 years. VICTOR ROSARIO 32 years NAT COSENZA 16 years in prison FRED CLAY For a crime I did not commit. VICTOR ROSARIO I never commit. NAT COSENZA For a crime that I did not commit. BRIAN PILCHIK This season, we’re going to bring you these stories of innocence in five installments, from September to November. Our first episode airs Sunday, September 16th, on the anniversary of the day Fred Clay was sentenced to life without parole for a murder he didn’t commit. VICTOR ROSARIO This is Mass Exoneration. Music Credits
Mass Exoneration theme music is My Square Feet by the Jeff Harris Band. Betrayal by Lee Rosevere, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Between by Meydän, licensed under CC BY 4.0. The One You Loved Is Gone by Soularflair, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. |