David & Me (2014) Movie Script

♪♪

Ray: Today, I'm going to my

friend David's house

to wait for some big news.

He's not gonna be there

because he's been in prison

for the last 28 years.

Grandma, while you were gone,

he called so many times.

This is why you

shouldn't have left.

[Chuckles]

Third degree.

When I stay here,

nobody calls for me.

Yesterday, it rung twice.

That's...

You called.

[Laughs]

And, uh, the people

from the agency called.

I think I called twice.

Yeah.

Who else called? Gary?

That's the two calls

that came yesterday.

Nobody else called.

Ray: Any minute now,

David is gonna call

and tell us the result

of a decision

that could finally

bring him home to his family

after all these years.

Oh, man.

Call it out. Call David

and get it over with.

[Telephone rings]

Aaron: Speaker first.

[Telephone beeps]Dial three.

Now we can put it

back on speaker.

Hello?

'Sup, man? How are you?[Beeping]

Yeah, I'm doing good.

Oh, she right here

next to me.

Sure.

Hello?

I'm okay.

You got some good news for me?

♪♪

[Dog barking]

♪♪

[Dog panting]

♪♪

[Gunshot]

♪♪

[Camera shutter clicks]

♪♪

[Camera shutters clicking]

♪♪

My name is David McCallum.

I am 43 years old.

I've been incarcerated

since I was 16 years old

for a crime I didn't commit.

♪♪

Ray: David is a

convicted murderer

from the streets of Brooklyn.

I'm a middle-class

Jewish-Italian kid from Toronto.

♪♪

So how did two people

who seem to be so different

end up becoming good friends?

♪♪

[Indistinct chatter]

♪♪

[Door buzzes]

♪♪

When I was a teenager,

David wrote me a letter

that really surprised me.

The words were so kind

and sensitive,

not exactly what you'd expect

from a man who'd spent 20 years

locked up for murder.

Over the last 10 years,

David's become like the

older brother I never had,

and I've become part

of a team of people

fighting for his freedom.

I think you've done more for me

than I have done for you,

to tell you the truth.

I was a -- pretty much a kid

when I came to this place.

I hadn't been anywhere,

really, you know?

Sometimes, you can't really

quantify it into words.

You know what I mean?

How much it meant just seeing

life outside of this place.

You know,

this is a dark place.

You know, and I say this

to people all the time,

and I've never actually said it

to you to put it in perspective,

but you've been in jail

my whole life.

You've miss my entire life

of experiences,

and what you've given to me

in terms of how you've

helped me grow up,

it just makes me want to do

anything I can to --

to help you.

Man: [Echoing] No!

♪♪

[Clears throat]

Marc: So, how would you compare

yours and David's upbringing?

You know, he came from

a big Southern family,

and I came from, you know --

I was an only child,

but I think the similarities

are that we were both good kids

at heart who got in trouble

because we were

trying to fit in.

I'm gonna make a very

simple dish today.

[Ray's mother laughs]

As a kid, my parents and I

were really close.

It was always just us three.

♪♪

I come from a very mixed

neighborhood in Toronto.

♪♪

It wasn't a bad place,

but the people that had adopted

a criminal lifestyle,

they were feared and respected,

and I wanted that same respect.

So I tried to act like them.

We were concerned about

the friends that you had.

You know, ultimately, all of

those kids are good-hearted

and -- but some of them were

in trouble themselves.

Some of them

carried guns.

In my neighborhood,

when you tried to act tough,

you had to back it up,

and I couldn't,

so I got bullied,

and that made me angry.

You know, I was an asshole

to my parents during that time.

And my dad just wasn't

gonna take my shit.

And so we were always

at each other's throats.

You had a lot of anger,

and sometimes people do things

they don't understand

the consequences of.

There was this dude who I

thought had stolen from me.

You know, we got in

a verbal confrontation.

The verbal confrontation ended.

Took a brick,

and I just whipped it

through his front window.

And then I ran away,

[Chuckles] which is probably

the opposite of being tough

'cause the kids

in my neighborhood

would just knock that guy out.

He called the police,

and I got arrested.

I think for my parents,

that was the turning point.

I reached the point where I felt

I had completely

lost control of, uh...

you and your upbringing.

Maybe I felt, too,

that I didn't know you anymore,

not the way

I thought I knew you.

Uh, and I thought, "I have

this friend who's in a prison."

I felt that he could give my son

the straight goods,

whereas whatever I'm saying to

him might be just so much B.S.

You know, he'll say,

"Bah, forget about it, Dad."

You know, "You don't know

what you're talking about."

But he can't say that

to a man who's in prison.

So I wrote to David and I said,

"Would you be willing

to correspond with my son?

He's been getting

into some trouble."

♪♪

David: "November 28, 2005.

Dear Ray, hello,

and how are you?

I met your dad

nearly two years ago

after reading an interview

he conducted

with Rubin "Hurricane" Carter.

Me and your dad have become

really good friends,

and I was hoping that we, too,

can become friends.

I was around your age

when I came to prison.

I really want to write to you,

and I often thought about

the privilege of writing

to his son."

When you said, "The privilege

of writing his son,"

that was the first thing in that

letter that sort of like,

put my guard down and let me

listen to you...

Right.

...without the guard.

I could sense the urgency

in his voice in his letters.

He felt like he did everything

he could to -- to get you,

you know, to understand

that, uh --

that kind of lifestyle leads

to some bad shit, you know?

♪♪

Ernestine: This is David's

first-grade picture.

He never was a real bad kid.

He did his lessons very good.

So there was no problem

with his lessons.

He was good with that.

♪♪

David: I was born on

December 12, 1968,

in Dillon, South Carolina.

I mean, I'm proud

to be a Southerner.

People make fun of that,

but that's okay.

That's all right.

We had a good time back then.

I was the third of seven

brothers and sisters.

♪♪

You know, my mom is a very,

very good cook,

and she pretty much does it all

in terms of collard greens

and -- and mashed potatoes

and fried chicken.

And she can do wonders,

believe me.

My father, you know, had a

difficult time finding work.

My mother and my father thought

there were some better

opportunities for us,

so my family moved

to New York City

when I was 8 years old.

♪♪

It was a culture shock

for me, man.

And I used to hear all kinds

of noise in the street.

[Car horns honking]

♪♪

When I was a kid, I used to

always see these fire trucks

zoom up and down my block,

you know,

and I was curious

as to what they did,

where they were going,

what happened.

It just really confirmed

I wanted to be a fireman

because those people

were going to help somebody,

you know, and I think

as a kid growing up,

I always wanted to be a hero.

You know, it was rough, man.

I mean, I've seen some

horrible things.

Seen people get shot.

You know,

I've seen people get stabbed.

I started hanging out

with rather rough individuals,

so if you didn't be tough

at that time,

then you will become

somewhat of prey.

People will be picking on you.

I, um, started committing crimes

like robberies,

and I want to be somebody

important, knowing that I was

into these kinds of activities

would make me important.

And my father, of course,

he would always tell me,

"Look, either two things

are gonna happen to you."

He said, "Either you're

gonna be in prison

for the rest of your life

or you're gonna be dead.

♪♪

I got up early Sunday morning

like I do on most Sundays,

made breakfast.

I was more of a cereal guy

than anything.

On that particular Sunday,

we decided that we were gonna

go to the park

at Junior High School 296.

I had, like, a

friendly competition

with my sister, Mattie.

We went around 12:00,

and we played handball.

[Indistinct chatter]

Mattie: We always had

this thing that --

"You can't beat me."

"No, you can't.

I can beat you."

We finally played each other

in this very handball park,

in this park.

And I beat him. [Laughs]

This is where David was

at the time of

Nathan Blenner's kidnapping.

♪♪

David: In the park that day,

Willie was there, too,

and Willie was

a friend of mine, as well.

He lived about, maybe,

seven blocks from where I lived.

We didn't hang out all the time,

but we hung out occasionally.

We pretty much went at it

all day, playing.

You know, we went home after

that in between 6:00 and 6:30.

My mom was preparing dinner.

♪♪

It was just like

any other Sunday, you know.

It's just simply another day.

♪♪

On October 27, 1985,

when I went to the store,

that was the last time

I've been home.

[Train rattling]

[Dog barking]

[Siren wailing]

[Indistinct chatter]

I'm sitting on some steps

with a group of friends,

and I notice a

detective car show up,

and three police officers

got out of the car,

and they said to me,

"Would you mind coming down to

the precinct for questioning?"

I said, "Okay, but I didn't

do anything wrong."

[Handcuffs click,

car door closes]

We were driving down,

and one detective said to me,

"If you fucking keep

leaning on me,

I'm gonna slap the shit

out of you."

At that time, I didn't know

exactly what was going on,

but I knew there was a problem.

♪♪

So when I got down

to the 83rd precinct,

they took me upstairs to a very

small room with no windows,

and I sat there for what seemed

like forever, really.

Joseph Butta

was a police officer.

He was saying that

they had found a body

in a park -- in Aberdeen Park

in Brooklyn.

Someone was killed.

And I said,

"I don't know what --

what you're talking about."

Detective Butta --

I'd say that he was a very,

very intimidating guy.

He was a 18-year veteran,

and he had a lot of experience.

I was very scared. He asked me

did I know Willie Stuckey?

I said he was a friend of mine.

Police officer Butta said to me

that Willie said

I shot Nathan Blenner.

♪♪

He brought Willie Stuckey

to the door.

They said to Willie Stuckey,

"Is that him?"

And Willie nodded his head yes.

I couldn't believe it.

Why -- Why the fuck would he --

Why would he say that?

Why would he say that I killed

somebody when he know

that neither he or I was there.

♪♪

Butta said, "Look,

if you tell me what happened,

I will let you go home."

And I said, "Officer, I don't

know what you're talking about

because I've never driven a car

my life, ever.

I've never been to

that particular neighborhood.

I didn't know anything

about Nathan Blenner."

And it was at that moment

when I said that I didn't know

who he was talking about

that he slapped me in my face.

He picked up a chair,

and he was threatening

to hit me with the chair.

I knew right then

that I had to say something,

and I had to tell this officer

what he wanted to know.

And then I said yes,

literally repeating

what he had

previously said to me.

At that time, I was willing to

do and say anything they wanted.

Willie was pointing

the finger at me.

You know, if he's saying

I did it,

well, I'm gonna say he did it.

I'm gonna say

he shot the person,

Detective Butta started

feeding me details.

He would say, for example,

"You saw this guy sitting

in his car, right?"

And so when he said, "Right,"

what I did was I just said,

"Yes, we did," you know?

And then he would actually

ask me another question,

and then it would just go on

and on and on and on again.

♪♪

Butta said, "Look, we got a

videotape set up,

and you're gonna go in there

and you're gonna repeat

exactly what you

repeated to me."

That was it.

♪♪

-Butta: Sir, what is your name?

-David McCallum.

Appearing on videotape was

absolutely and unequivocally

the worst mistake of my life.

I don't think anything can --

can actually compare to that.

Anything.

I felt like it was important

for me to try to make

my confession more believable

to the officers there.

So what I did was I put details

in the confession

When someone looks at the

confession, they will see that

information that was supplied

by Willie Stuckey

and the confession that I made,

they were totally inconsistent

with one another.

[Telephone rings]

Ernestine: 1:00, the phone rang.

I answered the phone.

And they said, "Do you have

a son by the name of

David McCallum?"

And I said, "Yes. Where is he?"

They said, "We have him

at the precinct."

So I said, "Well, he's only 16."

I say, "He need one

of his parents there."

He said, "If you come,

you can't see him."

[Siren wailing]

♪♪

Ray: "Hey, David. Thanks for

sharing your story with me.

It was eye-opening,

to say the least.

Hearing about where you're from

and what happened to you

has definitely made me rethink

my own actions and decisions.

I have a lot to be

thankful for."

♪♪

I bring to you the message

that I heard in prison.

I am a survivor.

A survivor of the American

so-called

criminal justice system.

And the same way...

Ken was a teacher,

and his class wrote me letters,

uh, asking me to appear, uh,

at their school

to speak with them.

And I did.

Ray: It was my dad's way

to meet one of his idols,

Rubin "Hurricane" Carter,

the legendary boxer who was

incarcerated for 19 years

for a crime he didn't commit.

And as I began to know

Ken Klonsky a little more,

we decided to do an article

for "The Sun" magazine.

Ken: A lot of people saw that,

including David McCallum.

David read the interview,

and he contacted me.

So the world,

sometimes you choose,

and sometimes it chooses you,

and I just decided

I wasn't gonna turn away

from this person.

Ray: David asked my dad to go

over his trial transcripts

because he wanted

to send them to Rubin.

So even though

he's not a lawyer,

my dad just started

going through them himself.

Ken: The first time through,

it was fairly clear to me

that he was guilty.

But then I decided, "I'm gonna

take a second look at this."

And the second time through,

the whole case came apart.

Ray: So my dad retired

from teaching

and managed to get Rubin Carter

onboard to help with the case.

Rubin's star power helped

attract Oscar Michelen...

a lawyer who had successfully

fought some other

wrongful-conviction cases

in New York.

My opinion of David is that

he's got a tremendous heart,

tremendous courage,

and there's no hatred.

There's no seeking of vengeance.

And to stay positive, I don't

know how he does it, frankly.

My dad provided the

emotional support for David.

He talked to him

on the phone every week,

kept his head

in the right place.

Rubin was our face,

the spokesperson,

and Oscar was our lawyer.

With everything happening,

I looked at the court documents

one day and couldn't believe

they could convict somebody

with so little evidence.

I became convinced

of David's innocence

and really wanted

to get involved.

As the team began

to reinvestigate the case,

the first step was to look back

into what actually happened

to Nathan Blenner.

I think, for me,

it's easy to forget

that there's another victim

in this case other than David.

The crime itself

is really shocking.

So, we're here now

at the scene of the crime.

That's where Nathan's car

was parked.

He was getting ready to go,

get it started,

when a couple of boys who

were playing in the street

saw two young male blacks

come down this street.

One of them took out a gun.

This is their testimony.

They then heard one of

the abductors tell Nathan,

"Get the 'F' in the car."

They pushed him in the car,

and they drove off.

[Engine revving,

tires squealing]

♪♪

Ray: The day after

Nathan Blenner was kidnapped

from the Ozone Park

neighborhood of Queens,

his body was found

in Aberdeen Park in Brooklyn.

♪♪

His car had been burned

and left in an empty lot.

One week later, David McCallum

and Willie Stuckey

were arrested and charged

with the murder.

[Siren wails]

♪♪

New York City in the mid 1980s,

crime was at an all-time high

because of gangs,

gun violence, and crack.

There were multiple murders

every day.

The police, that time,

had their hands full.

Courts were fed up.

People had had it.

Jurors had had it.

"We want our city back."

And all those pressures

were coming to bear

into that courtroom

when David and Willie were

ushered into it for their trial.

It wasn't just about their case.

It was about all of the crime

that was going on

in the city at that time.

♪♪

[Indistinct chatter,

gavel bangs]

When this case was tried,

this was before the days

of DNA evidence,

and that's very important

because one of the things

that DNA evidence

has established

is that people

do falsely confess to crimes,

particularly young teenagers.

♪♪

On top of that,

this was one of the early days

of videotaped confessions,

so it was very unusual

for a jury

to be able to actually

see the defendant

allegedly confessing

to the crime.

Here, you have the guy

right in front of you on film.

You can see that

there's no gun to his head.

So in the end,

nobody believed that

those confessions were coerced.

These two teenagers

had no chance with

professional interrogators.

And that's the only

so-called evidence

that the state presented,

was this false confession.

Ray: To see if we could

find anything that was

missed at the trial,

Rubin Carter sent the tapes

to Steve Drizin,

one of the world's leading

experts on false confessions.

If you simply look at the tapes,

you get the impression

that the person on the tape

may, in fact, be guilty

because the tapes

don't tell the story.

One signifier of

a false confession

is that the confession

doesn't lead police

to any additional evidence.

There's nothing in that

confession

that the police officers

didn't already know

from some other source.

Not a single fingerprint

anywhere in the car

that belongs to McCallum

or Stuckey.

I mean, these are teenage kids,

and we know from scores of cases

that juvenile suspects

are more vulnerable than adults

to the kinds

of police techniques

that we see over and over again.

And you have both Stuckey and

McCallum independently saying

that they were struck by the

lead detective, Detective Butta.

What's his reason

for being there?

He's not conducting

any questioning.

He is there to intimidate

David McCallum.

But I would say that the most

important factor to me

in the confession is

what we call a false fed fact.

When police canvassed

Nathan Blenner's neighborhood,

they interviewed a woman

who we'll call Chrissy.

Chrissy could have been

a key witness,

but she was never

brought into the trial.

Around the time of

Nathan Blenner's abduction,

Chrissy was washing her car

on the street

when she was accosted

by two black males.

♪♪

Oscar: One of them in braids.

They come up to her and say,

"Hey, you got a nice car."

Neither McCallum or Stuckey

wore braids.

Now, that occurred

within an hour

before Nathan Blenner's

abduction.

Steve: Stuckey's confession has

this account of meeting a woman

or a girl on the street.

Now, why is that important?

Because her description

of the offenders

doesn't fit Stuckey

and McCallum.

♪♪

Oscar: The jury had no idea

that someone had given

a description of two male blacks

that did not match McCallum

and Stuckey's description

at around the time of the crime.

I mean, it's ludicrous.

Ray: David's court-appointed

lawyer dropped the ball

in pretty much

every way possible.

He never visited

the crime scene.

David says he was interviewed

only once before his trial.

And he failed to even

bring Chrissy into the case.

He was later disbarred.

Ray: Tell me about

your lawyer.

I mean, well, for the camera,

I'm gonna be very kind here.

So I'm gonna say that he was...

grossly incompetent,

to say the least.

What do you

really think?

He was a piece of shit.

Oscar:

There was reasonable doubt

all over the place,

so when you open up the file,

you see the route for his

exoneration right there.

Ray: David's lawyer had this

evidence and didn't use it,

so it can't be used

for an appeal now.

That's just the way

the law works.

Had he had better

representation at trial,

he'd probably be walking

the streets right now.

Steve: The only evidence linking

these guys to this crime

is this confession,

and little did he know that

this five minutes of testimony

was gonna cost him

the rest of his life.

It's really tragic.

The verdict was guilty

on all charges.

Um, I was convicted

for felony murder

and for intention of murder and,

uh, robbery and kidnapping.

For me, it was almost like

in slow motion

because I was still waiting

for a not-guilty verdict.

I was really afraid

to turn around

to see the reaction

of my mother,

because I know

she's gonna be hurt.

I didn't cry at that time

because I was too much in shock,

but as soon as I went back

to the bullpen,

I started crying then because

I, at that time, realized

that I wasn't gonna

be going home.

♪♪

You don't ever get used to it.

But sometime it...

it just takes everything

away from me,

and sometime I just try

to block it out of my mind,

but it still come back.

[Indistinct chatter]

[Door closes]

David: "Hey, Ray,

to tell you the truth,

I do still think about

that confession every day.

It was the biggest mistake

of my life,

and it used to make me angry,

but over the years,

I've learned that if you spend

time feeling sorry for yourself,

you're missing out

on the opportunity

to move forward with your life.

I hope you learn that, too."

Ray: If he's not an angry prick

after everything

he's been through,

you know, what right do

I have to be?

♪♪

David used his story

and his experience to show me

that I'm free to shape my future

and follow my dreams.

And, you know, that's -- that's

a pretty powerful thing

for a young person to realize.

♪♪

Ken: David's given him a sense

of the value of his own life,

and it's not something that

he should throw away lightly,

and, uh, he's got opportunities

that David never had.

♪♪

David: "What's up, Ray?

I'm so glad to hear your

business ideas

are becoming a reality.

That's amazing. Congratulations.

I feel like I'm along

for the ride with you.

Ray: I had always wanted

to own my own business,

so some friends and I

got together,

and we opened up a restaurant

for students in Montreal.

David gave me

the confidence to say,

you know, "I can do

whatever I put my mind to."

I had always dreamed about

making films and TV shows.

He encouraged me.

I got my grades up, and I

actually got into film school.

All these amazing things

were happening.

But the question was

always on my mind --

"What can I do to help David?"

How can I pay him back

for everything

he's been doing for me?"

I told every single one of

my friends about David

It was my first-ever

video class,

and I met Marc --

you, and I was like,

"I want to go down to New York

and interview David's family."

And you were like,

"Yeah, cool. That'd be awesome."

[Car horn honks]

♪♪

So Marc and I headed down to

New York and met David's family.

High-five?

♪♪

We met Oscar.

Yeah, well,

they almost saw me.

We went to Toronto

to see Rubin.

How are you?I'm very good, young man.

And everywhere we went,

we would talk to people

and tell them about David

and tell them David's story.

We weren't sure how this was

actually gonna help,

but we had to do something.

So, uh, I'm going out

to see David today.

He just got transferred

to a new prison.

It's Otisville

Correctional Facility.

It's about an hour

and 45 minutes from New York.

He's been so

kind of down lately,

so I try to go see him a lot.

Marc: What are you guys gonna

talk about today?

We'll probably talk

about the case.

We'll talk about parole,

which is coming up.

David's sentence is 25 to life,

so after 25 years,

he's eligible for parole.

David's had three

parole hearings so far,

and he's been denied each time.

David's fourth parole hearing

is coming up,

and we're hopeful that

he's finally gonna be able

to come home to his mother,

sister, niece, and nephew,

who continue to support him

year after year.

I really believe I have

an opportunity

based on the things that I've

done in prison, you know?

My accomplishments,

and I've been --

I've managed to stay

out of trouble,

and I get along with people,

so I think I've --

I think I'm a perfect candidate,

objectively speaking.

David tells me that you are

quite the, um...

the computer whiz,

that you're gonna teach him

how to use a computer

when he gets out.

Mia: Yep.

What are you

gonna show him?

I'm gonna show him how do you

turn it on and how does it work.

[Chuckles]

♪♪

It's easy to forget

how little David knows

about the world that we live in.

♪♪

People spend 20 years in prison,

and you come out of prison,

you're -- bam --

right back here in society,

and you know nothing

about this society.

Ray: David has never used

the Internet.

He's never used a cellphone.

He's like, "I'm pretty bad

at this Internet.

There's Googles and Facebook."

When I'm visiting with him,

sometimes he'll ask me, like,

how to flirt with girls

or, like, dating

and stuff like that.

If he gets out on parole,

then he gets out as a murderer,

and, you know,

good luck getting a job

when every application

you have to fill out says,

"Have you been convicted

of a crime?" Yes.

"Which crime?"

You know, murder.

So, David's next parole hearing

is coming up,

but parole doesn't mean freedom.

And that's what we're all

really fighting for.

It is very difficult to overturn

a jury's verdict.

I've had some of the best-known

people in the whole world

supporting me, and yet,

even with all of that support,

I just narrowly escaped

through the eye of a needle.

David: When I was 17 years old,

I filed a number of appeals

on my own.

Some of the issues were

ineffective assistance

of counsel,

prosecutorial misconduct,

and the fact that

the confessions were false.

A self-written appeal

by a prison inmate

without a high-school education,

without the assistance

of a lawyer

had no chance in Hell.

And so, after eight years,

all my appeals were exhausted.

The law is clear --

once an argument is raised

and considered

by an appellate court,

that argument is gone for good

for that defendant.

The only way to secure

David's freedom now

is to find new evidence

and make new arguments.

Ray: As the team really started

to dig into David's case

and, you know,

search for new evidence,

Marc and I tagged along

as often as we could.

We even went out by ourselves

to search for any information

that could help.

Did you know any of the kids

that worked here?

If I said some names,

you wouldn't know anyone?

No. None of them.

♪♪

Uh-huh.

♪♪

I don't know

what I would have done

had I found something,

but I was just doing

whatever I could do.

We tried the victim's family.

We tried the Stuckey family.

We talked to people

in the neighborhood

who knew David back in the day.

Well, for a fact, I know that

as far as David knew anything,

he had nothing to do with it.

Ray: We even tried

the two witnesses

who saw Nathan get taken away.

They were 11 years old

at the time.

You don't know

where he lives?

[Siren chirps]

-Oscar: Think that's for us?

-Ray: I think it is for us.

Ray: "Hey, David.

I'm out here doing

everything I can for you.

Nobody will talk to us, though,

and it's really frustrating.

What happened to Nathan was

so awful that I understand now

why no one wants

to revisit the past."

Every single part of this whole

thing is infuriating.

Butta's dead.

His partner's dead.

Marc: Willie's dead.

Willie's dead.

Uh, David's lawyer's dead.

David's lawyer's dead.

Everything just feels like

a waste of time,

but it's like, well, what else

are you supposed to do?

David: For me to walk

out of here, it's gonna take

someone coming forward to say

that they actually

committed this crime,

or there's going to be

strong evidence to suggest

and prove that I'm innocent,

along with Willie Stuckey.

Short of that, um,

you know, I-I don't think

it's gonna happen.

[Indistinct chatter]

Say hi.

Hello.

David:

My oldest sister, Ella --

she's probably the person

I think about the most.

My sister was born

with cerebral palsy.

That means she has a disability

that doesn't allow her

to do some of the things

that I'm able to do.

Ernestine: I didn't know she

didn't have a bone in the back.

I know when I set her up,

she'd fall over,

but when they X-rayed

and everything,

they said, "She doesn't have

a spine in the back."

They told us that she wouldn't

live till she get 13.

That bothered me

for awhile.

But after she passed 13,

it didn't bother me anymore

because I said,

you know, "They don't know

what they talking about."

Ray: How -- How old

is she now?

She 52.

My sister's my hero

for the very reason that

she's probably one

of the strongest individuals

I've ever met,

that I've ever seen in my life.

She just -- she didn't ask to be

in her circumstance.

God made it that way,

and that's fine.

But my sister is

my sister, and...

I mean, that's a tough one, man.

[Telephone rings]Ken: David.

Hello, David.

David:

Hello. How you doing?

Oh, I'm just great.

Uh, how about you today?

Ken: He gets very down,

and when you're talking to him,

you feel it to such an extent

that it's --

it's as if you're

being drawn under water,

Ray: Still a light

at the end of the tunnel?

There always is.

There's always the next appeal.

There's always

the next parole hearing.

There's always

the next investigation.

You never know

what you're gonna find.

We're trying to crack a

28-year-old case.

It's a pretty monumental task,

and we needed help.

Ray: Has your work ever

got in the way of

any of your relationships?

Absolutely.

I would have to say

my relationships have got

in the way of my work.

[Laughs]

Whoo! [Laughs]

♪♪

[Horns honking]

♪♪

I had read about this guy,

Van Padgett, who had helped

some other people who had been

wrongfully convicted.

Van: As far as my

professional career,

this is the call

I've been waiting for.

I done met with David,

and I told David,

and I don't know

what possessed me to say it,

that I'm bringing you home.

So [Laughs] it's like I'm in.

Ray: When the police searched

Nathan Blenner's burnt car,

they found cigarette butts

in the ashtray.

These cigarette butts

had never been tested for DNA

because the technology

didn't exist at the time.

Rubin and Oscar

successfully petitioned

the Brooklyn D.A.'s office

to test the cigarette butts.

And lo and behold,

the lab found a match.

The DNA isn't David's.

It's not Willie's.

It's somebody totally new that

we had never heard about before.

This is it right here.

It was the first break in

David's case in over 20 years.

[Line rings]

Man: Hello?

Yo, B.

Yo.

Ray: Van used his

shady private-investigator

connections,

and he found Mr. DNA.

This guy was 14 in 1985,

so I don't think that

he killed Nathan Blenner,

but he was in that car

smoking cigarettes,

so he knows something.

He's our only direct connection

to Nathan Blenner's car.

♪♪

How are you?Good to see you.

What's up, man?

♪♪

Now, this button

is a little bigger.

-That's a lens?

-Yeah.

♪♪

Let's do it.

♪♪

In 1,000 feet, you will arrive

at your destination.

♪♪

Oscar: I know, yes.

Ray: Is it rolling?

Kind of wish I was

up there right now.

[Knock on door]

Man: Hey.

How are you doing?

Van: Excuse me.

Good morning.

[Dog barks]Hey, little guy.

Good morning.

My name is Van Padgett.

I'm a private investigator.

I'm here to see Mr. [Bleep].

Can I speak to you for a second?

-Yeah, sure, sure.

How are you doing?

You look familiar, man.

This is

Mr. Oscar Michelen.

Okay, so, I'm the attorney

who's working on the case.

You know, Mr. McCallum's

been in since 1986.

We're trying to figure out

what happened that day.

So, done the DNA tests

of what was in the vehicle.

And you've got two

cigarette butts

with your DNA on it

in the car.

But the name wasn't

pulled out of a hat.

You know, for DNA,

when you get a false hit,

it's not a false positive.

It's -- We -- [Exhales]

Your DNA is on two

cigarette butts

in the ashtray in that car.

That is a fact that we

have to deal with.

The problem what we --

You were in that car

smoking cigarettes.

♪♪

So, I must say, I don't know

what to make of it.

You know, it could be that he

just doesn't remember.

I think he's holding back.

And I just said to Van,

"It really doesn't matter

if he's telling

the truth or not."

Ray:

How do you figure?

'Cause what are we gonna do?

Are we gonna Tase him?

We're gonna waterboard him?

What are we gonna do?

When he comes to declare, he'll

look you right in the face,

and he says,

"I have no idea."

Ray: In retrospect,

I guess I...

I kind of feel stupid, but...

You know, I don't know,

I just -- I thought that,

you know,

he'd have nothing to lose.

He was only 14.

We don't think he killed him.

So, like, what's he --

Maybe he is hiding something,

you know? Who knows?

I mean, the hardest part

is like, you know,

what do you tell David

after that?

♪♪

David: I just hope that I'm one

of those individuals, you know,

that make it, you know,

because some people,

unfortunately, they don't

make it out, you know?

Ray: Willie Stuckey

didn't make it out.

Willie Stuckey

didn't make it out.

♪♪

Rubin: This is too dangerous

in this prison.

Any show of disrespect

can mean your life.

There's always life-and-death

struggles behind those walls.

♪♪

David:

Willie Stuckey's dead.

Willie Stuckey's not here

anymore, sadly, and, um,

sometimes I often think

that could be me.

♪♪

[Line rings]

Rubin: Dr. Carter's office.

Rubin, how are you doing?

It's Ken.

Hey, Ken! How are you?

I'm just fine.

Ray: Rubin's health

was rapidly deteriorating.

The man who brought this whole

team together could no longer

be the figurehead in the fight

for David's freedom.

On the day we were scheduled

to do an interview,

he said he didn't have

the energy to see us.

He agreed to take

a phone call, though.

[Coughing]

How are you feeling?

Are you okay?

Marc: All right.Okay. Feel better.

Take care, Rubin.[Chuckles]

[Line beeps]

That's, uh --

that's sad.

He doesn't have, um --

he doesn't have a lot left.

I mean, he -- he gave you

everything he had

because it was you.

[Clicks tongue]

[Sighs]

♪♪

Ray: Rubin didn't want any kind

of funeral or memorial service.

For his last public act,

he wrote a letter stating that

his single regret in life

was that David McCallum

was still in prison,

and for his dying wish,

he called upon

the district attorney

to grant David a full hearing.

The letter was republished

around the world.

♪♪

And we promised Rubin

that we'd keep fighting

until David's name is cleared.

And if it means

trying to find the killers

28 years later,

then that's what we're gonna do.

Trying to find the real killers

brings us back to Chrissy,

because she saw two guys

that day who didn't match David

and Willie's description

because one of them had braids.

So could these be

the same two guys

that kidnapped Nathan Blenner?

You know, sometimes you got

to go over the paperwork over

and over again.

Try to be objective.

Don't be judgmental.

♪♪

Oscar: Four days after

Nathan Blenner's kidnapping,

Chrissy reported that her car

had been stolen.

Chrissy and Nathan Blenner

had the exact same car.

Ray: When you look closely

at the investigation reports,

you see that Detective Butta

actually did question two guys

who matched

Chrissy's description

before he even knew

about David and Willie.

They were carjackers

and had been arrested

in Nathan Blenner's

neighborhood.

What's more reasonable --

that professional car thieves

accosted Nathan Blenner

and pulled this off,

or two 16-year-old kids

without a motive

and no gain pulled this off?

Ray: The first suspect, and

we're gonna call this guy Jake,

he gave Detective Butta

a ton of information.

Not only did he have a history

of violent crimes,

he had a direct connection

to Nathan Blenner's car.

When police were searching

the burnt Buick Regal,

they found the kerosene can

that was used to torch it.

Butta's partner recognized

from the price tag

that the kerosene can came

from a local hardware store

in Bushwick known as Pop's.

The suspect ends up working

at this Pop's hardware store

where the kerosene can

came from,

and that remarkable coincidence,

frankly, that incredible

accomplishment

of good police work

goes un-followed-up.

No one does anything with that.

♪♪

Ray: Butta's report gives us

almost no information

on the second guy,

the guy with braids,

who we're gonna call Murray.

He's currently on probation,

and Van found

his sister's address.

That's where he's

supposed to be staying.

He's visited with her

a number of times.

She's really nice

and keeps trying to connect us

with her brother,

but he's clearly dodging.

Woman: Hello?Yes, good afternoon.

This is, uh,

private investigator

Van Padgett.

Oh, hi, Van.

How are you?

How's everything?

I'm okay. Hanging in there.[ Laughs ]

I'm still trying to get

in contact with your brother.

Okay.Have you heard anything?

Yes, he was here

yesterday.

Did he leave

a forwarding address

or a number

that we can reach him at?

No, he didn't have no phone,

but he'll be here Monday.

So we tried one last time,

hoping to catch him there

that Monday.

All right.

Ray: Good luck.

Hey, hey.

We don't believe in luck.

Luck is for nonbelievers.

[Grunts]

[Car door closes]

[Dishes clattering in distance]

[Elevator whirs]

How you doing?

Hi.

Okay.

My pleasure, my pleasure.

Ray:

We had missed him again,

but this time, his sister

revealed new information

not contained

in any police report.

Even before her brother

was arrested in Queens,

he had already been questioned

for Nathan Blenner's murder.

Police had raided their house

and taken him to the station.

The police immediately

started looking at him.

How many cops was there?

Really? They told him

he was about --

Do you recall how long after

they discovered the body

in the park that the police

came to your house?

Was he known in the neighborhood

to these detectives?

Did she say anything

that would lead you to believe

that he actually did it?

What she's saying is

that they came immediately

after they discovered

the body.

Like, two to three days

afterwards.

But he wasn't giving it up.

He wasn't like David and them.

You know, he wasn't this kid

that you can just like,

"I'm gonna beat it

out of you."

"Okay, keep beating.

I'm not --

I don't know what you're

talking about."

Yeah.

Ray: Murray just

keeps dodging us,

but there's one place

that you can't hide.

Van saw that Murray had been

arrested, and he and Oscar

jumped on the opportunity

to pay him a visit.

He confirmed everything

his sister told us and more.

Oscar: He told us he was

questioned about this case

no less than four times.

So, did you get

a signed affidavit?

I'm looking at it right now.Yes!

So, he signed an affidavit,

which is like a sworn statement.

It doesn't prove

that David didn't do it.

I had this foolish idea

that he was just going to admit

to everything,

and that didn't happen.

So it's not a home run.

Ultimately, we still need

to figure out why David

and Willie were arrested

in the first place.

♪♪

At one point, you could see

Butta was building a case.

And I think, somewhere along

the line, something happened

where he decided

he's gonna createa case.

Ray: So, how did police go from

suspecting Murray and Jake,

two hardened criminals

with a direct connection

to Nathan Blenner's car,

to David and Willie?

The link is an alleged

gun dealer.

When Jake was being

interrogated by Butta,

he told them that a guy from his

neighborhood named James Johnson

owned a gun that had been

used in a murder.

Butta then questioned Johnson,

who said,

"Willie Stuckey has my gun."

He testified to this at trial.

In exchange for that testimony,

the police and the prosecution

let Johnson off the hook

for a very serious case

that he was facing,

and that was a huge, huge deal

in Johnson's favor, obviously.

Ray: If it wasn't for

Johnson's story about the gun,

David and Willie never

would have been picked up.

We don't know if this

was the same gun

that killed Nathan Blenner

because they never found a gun.

Oscar:

Here was Stuckey, in jail.

The police officer says to him,

"Where is the gun?"

The police officer

goes to the bedroom

and doesn't find the gun

and never finds the gun.

So why would Stuckey

truthfully confess to murder

but then lie about

where he hid the murder weapon?

Ray: And that's how absurd

this case is.

It's all hearsay.

We looked everywhere

for James Johnson.

Oscar and I went to a bunch

of old addresses.

We're looking for a guy

named James Johnson.

Used to live up on

the third floor.

Oh, it's empty?

So that's a dead end.

♪♪

But Van received new information

on a person who we believed

was the guy we'd been

looking for.

...6.

There you go.

Van: Are you familiar

with David McCallum?

Well, this -- we were

looking at, um...

Did you testify in 80 --

in '86?

The year that's in question

would be like '85, '86.

You was incarcerated then?

Ray: We checked the records,

and it was true.

At the time of the trial,

this guy was in jail under

a completely different name.

We kept looking,

but there are more than a dozen

other James Johnsons

in the New York justice system,

all about the right age.

♪♪

Van: Hello.

I'm looking

for James Johnson.

The only good thing

about searching for a guy

with such a common name

is that there's always

the next James Johnson.

So the search continues,

and it won't stop

until we find our guy.

♪♪

So, David's fourth

parole hearing is

rapidly approaching,

and every year, he has to decide

whether or not to admit

guilt and remorse,

which we think would give him

a better chance of getting out.

As his lawyer,

I have to let him know

what the options are that

he has to getting out of jail.

And I said, "You know, David,

there may come a time

where it's in your best interest

to just wave the white flag."

I've thought about it,

and I could not see myself

sitting in front of anyone and

admitting guilt in this crime.

I-I can't do it,

and I won't do it.

And if it takes...

dying in prison,

I would do that.

I just don't think it would be

the right thing to do

for me or for anyone that

support me and care about me

and -- and love me

and -- and believe in me.

I would rather die in prison,

and that's the truth.

That's the truth.

[Thunder rumbling]

♪♪

Ray: Because he's been

in jail for so long

and he has such

a good behavior record,

the parole board

can still grant him release

if they don't feel like

he's a threat to society.

Just because he won't

admit guilt

doesn't mean that he won't

get out this time.

♪♪

David: "What's going on, Ray?

I'm definitely looking forward

to my upcoming parole hearing.

Hope is all I have left,

and as long as I can breathe,

and will hold on to hope,

because hope inspires freedom.

[Bird calling]

♪♪

Ray: With our investigation

dead in the water,

parole is now our only hope

of getting David out of prison.

[Telephone rings]

Aaron: Speaker first.

[Telephone beeps]Dial three.

Now we can put it

back on speaker.

Hello?

'Sup, man? How are you?[Beeping]

Yeah, I'm doing good.

Oh, she right here

next to me.

Sure.

Hello?

I'm okay.

You got some good news for me?

Oh, no.

Yeah, you keep

telling me that.

Yeah, I know that.

Yeah, it kind of, you know,

slowed me down a little bit.

I have a question

to ask you.

Of all the things

that come back negative to you,

how can you stay

strong like that?

[Laughs]

Yep.

Yeah.

Okay.

Hello?

Mm-hmm.

♪♪

David: "Parole decision --

denied.

Parole is denied

for the following reasons.

After a careful review of your

record in this interview,

it is the determination

of this panel

that if released at this time,

there is a reasonable

probability that you will not

live and remain at liberty

without violating law,

and your release is incompatible

with the welfare and safety

of the community."

♪♪

Oscar: David is 45 years old.

If you just think about

what the average person does

between the ages of 17 and 45,

the tragedy of David's

wrongful conviction

should hit home to you.

♪♪

Ernestine:

I'm proud of who he became,

but I'm not proud

that he was there.

♪♪

But, uh...

I feel like

it made a man out of him.

I really do.

♪♪

David: I have to stay connected

to the outside

because this experience

has showed me

that there's more to life

than just yourself, you know?

He's a remarkable human being.

He's an example to everybody.

I don't ever want him to think

that his life has been in vain.

It's a tragedy

that he's been in prison,

but his life has meaning

for a lot of people.

♪♪

It seems crazy that it would

take you writing to me

for me to, like,

appreciate, you know,

having a relationship

with my father.

You know, I guess sometimes

that's what it takes.

Right.

And for the record,

I really appreciate it.

You're welcome.

...because you saved

that relationship.

For you to sit there

and say that, uh, you know,

you don't really know how much

that kind of means to me because

my father, of course, you know,

he passed away in 2005,

you know, and I came to prison

at the age of 16.

That's not really a lot of time

to spend with your father.

You know?

Do you want

to be a father?

Yes. Yes, I do.

You didn't even hesitate

to answer.

Yes, I do, because I understand

the value of being a father,

how important it can be.

Um, I think I deserve to be.

It's not too late to live,

you know,

and that's what I want to do

when I -- when I get out.

[Gate whirring]

♪♪

Ray: It's funny 'cause, like,

it's hard for me

to envision him, you know,

walking out

because it's such

a beautiful vision

that I almost won't

let myself go there,

you know,

because I don't want to --

I don't want to get my

hopes up too -- too big

and get them let down.

♪♪

David: I just want to be able to

walk down the street, you know?

Uninhibited.

Just -- Just walking.

♪♪

I don't know.

I don't know what's

gonna happen.

I'm kind of --

I guess, in some ways,

I'm looking for a miracle, man.

Trying to hold on to that, man.

I'm trying.

[Door buzzes]

Thanks for coming, man.

I appreciate it.

Appreciate it.

Yeah.

All right?

Okay.

See you later.

♪♪

-Gentlemen, you're following me.

-Okay, thank you very much, sir.

Thank you.

Straight this way.

Ray: Our investigation was

at a dead end,

but then a new district attorney

was elected in Brooklyn,

and one of his promises

was to look

at wrongful-conviction cases

in a completely new way.

When I walked through the doors

of this office in January,

I inherited a legacy of disgrace

with respect to

wrongful-conviction cases.

We have over 100

of these cases to review.

Ray: With the old D.A., proof of

innocence was the only way

to get a wrongful-conviction

claim back into court.

But Ken Thompson set up a unit

to actually reinvestigate

some of these cases.

I made a pledge to

the people of Brooklyn,

and my pledge was

to put the guilty away,

but, also, to make sure

that our criminal-justice system

was based on

fundamental fairness.

Ray: The D.A.'s office

was flooded

with claims

of wrongful conviction,

just like ours.

But then in June of 2014,

we got news that they were gonna

reinvestigate David's case.

Four long months later,

they called to tell us

that on October 15th,

David was gonna get

his day in court.

[Woman laughs]

Oscar: Glad? [Laughs]

A handsome young man

looking for you. [Laughs]

Oh, man!

[Laughter]

Oh. How you feeling man?

Great.

[Laughs]

Ray: It turned out that

Murray's signed affidavit,

along with the Rubin's plea,

had been enough to pique

the interest of the D.A.

and get David's case

to the top of the list.

[Indistinct chatter]

Woman: Case number 11 on

the Park Court calendar.

The People of

the State of New York

versus David McCallum

and Willie Stuckey.

For the defendant,

Oscar Michelen --

M-I-C-H-E-L-E-N.

The defendants move that

the defendants'

constitutional rights

were violated at trial

and that the defendants

have obtained

newly discovered evidence.

Man: Your Honor, the people

do not oppose the motion.

Since the only evidence was

the statements against them,

in which we have

no confidence,

we would ask the indictment

to be discussed.

Against this backdrop

and the evidence available

to the district attorney

after the investigation

sufficiently

convinces the court

that the judgments of conviction

should be vacated

and, based upon the people's

further representation,

that they possess insufficient

evidence to prove guilt

beyond a reasonable doubt.

I will dismiss

the indictment.

Thank you.

[Applause]

Whoo!

[Cheering]

We'll go down here.

Let's walk down this way.

[Cheers and applause]

♪♪

Reporter:

The obvious thought, David --

How are you feeling

at this moment?

Of course, this is a bittersweet

moment because, um, there was

someone else who was supposed

to be walking out with me,

but unfortunately, he's not,

and that's Willie Stuckey.

[Indistinct chatter]

[Whistling]

♪♪

[Horn blaring]

♪♪

Yeah, we all settled?

[Laughter]

Mia: Mom, I'm taller

than everybody.

[Cheering]

♪♪

It's not helping

that it's all in the back.

Oh, David, David, David.

[Laughs]

David: Yes, yes, yes?We're all happy.

You know Miss Waterworks,

right?

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.Ernestine: You know it, yeah.

Oh, God, this is so surreal

right now.

Yeah.

He's here!

He's sitting in that

right-front passenger seat.

This is like 1,000 years

of happiness.

[Laughter]

Wow.

You know?

Hey, Johnny, you work this

thing. You know how to work it.

Got to go see

my sister now.

Hey, sweetie.

Happy to see me?

You're happy

to see me, right?

I'm happy to see you,

too, sweetie.

Probably tomorrow,

we gonna be watching

a lot of television together,

you know that?

Yeah, let me

get me a kiss now.

[Smooches] I love you.

♪♪

Oh, man!

Yes, sir.

Without a doubt.

Ray: Watching David

walk out of jail,

it was just an amazing thing

to be a part of.

I can't...

I can't put it into words.

You're all over Twitter.

Okay.

[Chuckles]

Do you know what that is?

I know it's an account.

That's about it.

It's like a --

So, it's like -- Look.

It's like a site,

all right?

When you post something

is tweeting.

♪♪

David: So many to

choose from, right?

I know, there's so many,

right?

[Indistinct conversation]

Yeah, sneakers will choke

your feet, though.

Oh, yeah, man.

Oh, they feel good.

Yeah, real good.

Ray: This isn't a totally

happy ending.

David faces huge challenges.

He got 30 years of his life

taken from him,

and he can never get that back.

But, you know, Rubin Carter

said in his dying wish

that to live in a world

where truth matters

and justice, however late,

really happens,

that would be Heaven enough

for us all.

So I'm gonna go with, um,

the omelet, right?

And I'm gonna go with

the, um --

the home fries, man.

His dying wish came true.

Ray: Feta omelet --

that's you.

[Mattie laughs]

And for one little moment

in a little corner

of Brooklyn, New York,

all was right with the world.

Something I had to say to you,

but I forgot, just that quick,

'cause I'm so exci--

Oh, I can't believe I'm --

can't believe I'm

sitting here, man.

-I know. It's crazy.

-Can't believe I'm sitting here.

I cannot believe it, man.

[Ray laughs]

Ray:

How are you feeling?

Ken: As happy as

I've ever been in my life.

It is dreamlike.

All of a sudden,

the dream came true.

Well, we kept looking

at each other and saying,

"How did this happen?"

I mean, we wouldn't be here

if it wasn't for you.

Nobody would be.

Not Rubin,

not Oscar,

nobody, not Van.

That may be true.

It's -- It's 100% true.

♪♪

Yep. Perfect.

Now we're talking.

[Camera shutter clicks]

Ken: But, you know,

when you get down to it,

and this is the God's

honest truth, it was David.

♪♪

David: Um, I just want to

thank everybody

for their love and support.

I just want everyone

at this table

to know that I truly,

truly appreciate everything,

and I mean everything that was

ever done for me in this regard.

And it will never be forgotten.

Thank you very much.

All: Hey!

♪♪

David:

This is a pier, right?

Can't believe I'm standing

on a pier, man.

So, what are you doing

next week?

Not a whole lot.

You want to go see

a movie?

Sure. [Chuckles]

Why not?

♪♪

David & Me (2014) - full transcript