We all sat in the diner in Camden, New Jersey , Across the river from Philadelphia, but close enough to the
Penns Landing Building that housed the Headquarters of the WRONGFUL CONVICTION UNIT
and the huge law library located in our friend's Jasmine Coley's law firm that we were using..
''I hate to take business away from Sam Mother...but this place is just perfect... Great food, comfortable and relaxing and not in Philadelphia, yet close enough." said Olivia..
"Yes...Especially since we are working with Karen on this major case.." said Beverly...
''Nice place...I love the décor.." I said.
"Yeah Me too Donnie Ray." said Nelson...
"The Best part is...Lt. Tragg has no idea where we are and we can eat in comfort.."said Josie..
"I imagine he didn't take that restraining order from ADA Sleet too well"said Yvette Jones...
Speaking of the ADA and latest sexual obsession of Lt. Tragg..
He had been hanging in the hallway of her building every night...She finally got a restraining order..
"He can't come 300 feet near her building or near her....He was furious when he got handed it." said Keith Jones , who witnessed the whole thing...
and naturally he blamed us..." he said..
"He came by our building bamming on our doors demanding
an explanation..." said Bee Bee.
"I think we finally convinced him that we had nothing to do with it and that we didn't know anything about it.."said Sofia..
"Yeah he finally stopped coming around."said Kahlil..
"He stopped by my place once...I wouldn't even talk to Him..
"He had the nerve to stop by my place
looking for Yvette..."said Gary.
"I told him to get a grip...That I hadn't seen or talked to her since the case and that she's a capable attorney she was capable of initiating it herself with no direction from me or my staff.."said Yvette.
Our Food arrived...
Pancakes
Hash Browns
Sausage
and Omelettes..
Our Other friends, Jazzy, her husband Dabnis, who were working with us
and the two attorneys from the Innocence Project that brought us the case.. Jessica Sanchez-Burrows
and her husband, Charles "Chip" Burrows and ADA Karen Page joined us..
We hadn't all worked a massive case together like this in awhile...It was going to be fun...Almost like when some of us went out of town...
We loved this Diner...We enjoyed all three meals here...Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner..
We even discovered a Bar , just a block from this diner...
Where we all could drink and relax in peace...
Then we boarded up on the Mini Bus that escorted us all back over the bridge
to Philadelphia...
and our homes...
II-
We communicated with Alfreda by Portal...
And of course she did get at least one visit from Lt. Tragg..
"What is it?" she said, opening the door and sighing..
" Where is the Fab Five? I haven't seen them in the Diner or anyof their usual places for close to a week now?" he asked..
"You miss them? I'll be sure to tell em when they come back..."said Alfreda..
ADA Rockland Cambridge came to the door...
"If you don't have anything else or a warrant....Good day.." he said and slammed the door in his face...
He was furious, but there was nothing he could do...
He had no one to pick on or work out his frustrations and now he couldn't go near ADA Sleet..Couldn't call her or text her.. That Restraining order covered all of that...
III-
We had all been called together to look at a serious case..
We sat in the Conference room as
Jessica and Karen presented the case to us..
"This is Former Drug Lab Chemist ,Sarah Faulkner.." said Jessica, showing us a photo of her on the monitor..
Last year, former Philadelphia drug lab chemist Sarah Faulkner was convicted and sentenced to 18 months in prison after it was discovered that for nearly five years she stole and used drugs that she was testing. In June, an initial group of the drug convictions secured through Faulkners testing were dismissed based on documentation that she’d tampered with evidence and that prosecutors knowingly concealed information from the defense counsel as well as the Superior Court about the extent and length of Faulkner's misconduct and drug abuse. Today, my husband Chip and I on behalf of the Innocence Project have filed a position stating the remainder of the convictions linked to Faulkner—estimated to be about ten—need to also be dismissed with prejudice to “restore integrity to the justice system.”
The document—filed my husband Chip and I—states that the Superior Court found that the District Attorney's office “purposefully withheld exculpatory evidence about the timing and scope of Faulkners drug abuse, misled defense counsel about that evidence, and committed a fraud on the court in order to minimize the scope of the scandal.” We outlined that when Faulkner was arrested last year—after she compromised the evidence in about 10 criminal cases—the Superior Court held an evidentiary hearing. At that point, the defense counsel tried to obtain important evidence from the Commonwealth, but former ADA Mark Tate, now serving a life sentence for five murders
suppressed that evidence and falsely told counsel and the court that all exculpatory evidence had already been disclosed. In 2016, a six-day evidentiary hearing was held to explore why that evidence was withheld.
The Superior Court found that the two assistant district attorneys, Mark Tate
and then ADA , later Judge Sam Mckelroy..who himself has been disbarred and is serving a life sentence for murder...
and working on the case engaged in misconduct that “improperly influenced and distorted [the court’s] fact finding and legal conclusions and it unfairly hampered the defendants’ presentation of defenses.
Their conduct constitutes a fraud upon the court.”
To make matters worse, states the petition, the Commonwealth has failed to identify and notify those eight other defendants whose convictions are linked to Ms. Faulkner's testing or to educate them about their rights regarding post-conviction relief.
For these reasons, states our petition, “all of Ms. Faulkner's remaining cases should be vacated and dismissed with prejudice.” Two of the complaintants contacted me and asked me to represent them....My husband and I later found out about the other eight...Judging by the scope of this investigation... We knew this needed you guys.The best of the best..
As ADA and head of the Wrongful Conviction Unit, We are calling on ADA Karen Page to fulfill her or the State's legal obligations and properly identify and notify these ten defendants affected by Faulkner's misconduct.
You can read the entire petition .The Innocence Project joined the Wrongful Conviction Unit in filing a friend-of-the-court brief regarding the prosecutorial misconduct issues in the case and later filed bar complaints against the two former prosecutors, who are now disbarred and in prison themselves ." said Jessica.
"This is very good stuff. Jessica, you and your husband Chip did great work...And That's why I have called you guys here.. You're the best....and Olivia, you have had recent dealings with Mark Tate and Yvette ,I believe you and Sam Mckelroy had some dealings..
We've got ten men...Ten men who may have been wrongfully convicted or who may not...
Here are their case files...:Liv and her team will have these four....If you need to visit them in prison, so be it..What ever you need ,let me know.." said Karen.
"Looks like we have our work cut out for us.."said Olivia..
"The Detective in all four of these cases was Dominic Evans.."said Beverly West...
"He's been in prison for a double murder for a couple of years.."said Nelson...
"My God...The two former ADA's one becoming a judge are in prison for murder and the arresting detective is locked up for murder...I'm beginning to wonder who are the good guys."said Josie..
|Believe me Jo, as a former Homicide Detective , who had to put 22 of my co-workers behind bars for covering up the murder of three innocent people...I know exactly how you feel...Sometimes I stayed up nights wondering myself.."I said.
''We are the good guys Donnie Ray..We right wrongs..We wear the white hats.."said Karen...
"Vettie, these are your four...Same deal as Liv's team..Anything you need, transportation to prison to visit, whatever, name it..you got it.."said Karen..
"Thanks guys..."said Yvette...
"Oh Joy...Lt. Tragg is the arresting officer on two of these..." said Bee Bee..
"These go back awhile..He was Sgt. Tragg then and his partner was , wait for it...Detective Dominic Evans."said Sofia..
"Same pair on our two.." said Keith Jones..
"Dumb and Dumber were the detectives and corrupt and murderous were the ADA's.."said Kahlil..
Jade cracked up laughing..
"He's right you know...I knew Dominic Evans...He couldn't catch a suspect if the suspect confessed." said Gary.. "That double murder he was convicted of...He wasn't the brains...Just the trigger man...The woman ,who masterminded the whole thing was put to death by Lethal Injection two years ago...He just barely escaped the death penalty..."said Gary, an investigator for the D.A.'s office on loan to the ADA Karen Page.
''Well, I've got three good cops on this one..You, Donnie Ray and Jade Lee...I have complete confidence you three will do thorough investigations.."said Karen.
"Jazzy..You and Dabnis will take these two cases..." she said and passed them two case files..
"Look, Dabnis, your favorite cop, Lt. Tragg was the sole arresting officer in both of these cases.."said Jazzy...
"You mean he actually used to get convictions...Shame we are going to have to overturn all of these...He won't have any wins.."laughed Dabnis..
"That just gets you so excited doesn't it?" laughed Jazzy..
"Not half excited as you've got me right now..." he whispered to Jazzy... He couldn't take his eyes off of her...
She giggled...''Always nice to know." she said and smiled.
"Because of the sensitivity of this material..I aske that you all leave the case files here...and try not to discuss the cases at your homes at all.. Our working hours are Monday - Friday....We'll have breakfast at our spot in Camden.. at 8:00, start working at around 9:00, have lunch at 1:00...At 3:00 have our group meeting and knock off at 5:00, how is that? Saturday and Sunday, we are off , until we are ready for our hearings.." said Karen..
"That's fine with us..Madamn President..." said Olivia..
"Yes Boss Lady, Now let's go have some dinner and then knock back a few cold ones."said Yvette.
''Works for me."said Karen.
IV-
We all went across the river to Camden...to the diner that Yvette Discovered..
They had thick juicy New York strip steaks
Baked Potatoes
A nice salad
and refreshing Ice tea to wash it down...
"Vettie, I love this place..."said Olivia.
"I've been meaning to come here with you...One of my lawyer friends at my firm took me and some of the other Senior Associates here for Christmas Luncheon last year."said Yvette.
''And I was here with B.L. a few nights for a quiet dinner. When I realized I'd be hosting you guys..
I called the manager and reserved this section for us.."said Karen.
"It's bright...It looks great and the food is delish.."said Beverly...
''Yes...This may be our go to spot every time we work a Wrongful Conviction Case." I said..
"I'm down for that.." said Josie..
''Actually, I've been here before..When I worked for Robert Foxworth and Associates.."said Nelson.
"Nice spot...I like it." said Josie's Boyfriend ,Paris, who drove over and met us..
"Tragg has been goin nuts all day at Sam Mothers....Without you guys there...He had nobody to argue with or pester...He still thinks one of you guys had something to do with that restraining order....He grilled me at lunch today...Wanted to know where you guys were, what kind of case were you working on...If I knew who put the idea in ADA Sleet's head to get a restraining order? I got up and moved...Sam told him to leave me alone.. Then he wanted to know where all of you guys were again......I didn't answer him."said Paris..
"I'm so sorry you had to go through that.." said Yvette..
''He wouldn't have pulled that crap on me..."said Gary..
"If he should come by our apartment tonight...We aren't answering the door.."said Bee Bee..
"In Fact...If he does..I'm calling the cops.."said Kahlil..
Sofia Laughed..
''Really, that's what you should do.."said Jade..
"He's in so much hot water now about an Assistant District Attorney filing a restraining order against him that one more complaint like that will surely land him back on the boat..."said Lt. Danny Ho.
"He has one time to ring my doorbell after hours...Just one time.."said Dabnis..
"Forget about him...We are all here..Nice and cozy...and he is ….Somewhere being miserable."said Jazzy.
Jessica laughed..
So did her husband, Chip..
As we chowed down...
The Bar , a few blocks away had that homey feel like Josies..
A nice crowd and cheap drinks..My kind of place..
Mango Martinis..
Citris Martinis..
and plenty of Beers...
We sat back and relaxed....We didn't even have to worry about driving home...
The Bus was going to take us all home..with the exception of Paris and Josie.
and Lt. Danny Ho
and Jade.who would be driving back...
This was going to be such a relaxing time for us..
As for Lt. Tragg, he ate alone in Sam Mother's place tonight
And drank alone in Curley's Bar... There was no sign of ADA Karen Page.....
He knocked back
Beer after Beer..
That fink, B.L. Benz was on television with his dumb show HARD BOTTOM Tonight..
He was interviewing Judge Michael King, who he had just worked with...
He wasn't listening...Had he of been listening...
He'd of heard about disgraced Lab Chemist, Sarah Faulkner, now imprisoned and the fact that the D.A.'s office's Wrongful Conviction Unit was relooking at 10 of the cases in which her testimony and tainted evidence was used and ADA Karen Page
had enlisted the talents of the city's top defense attorneys and investigators...
to look into ten cases in which she was used and in which people may have been wrongly convicted..
He missed that entire part...Had he of heard the segment...he would have known where we spent our days and nights..but like evidence in his cases...He missed it..
He paid his tab and drove past Abigail Sleet's apartment complex...Hewasn't even supposed to be on her street...
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