The Boy Maca show.
Debuting season 2 episode 1 at THE WORLD FAMOUS COIN ACADEMY located in Pasadena, California the city of roses. We have such an amazing guest to start off season 2, let me introduce you all to BEN. He is a black belt in martial arts and he has spent 20 years in the penitentiary due to penal system being unjust. I can write so much about him but please take a listen and get to know him for yourself.
The Boy Maca show.
Debuting season 2 episode 1 at THE WORLD FAMOUS COIN ACADEMY located in Pasadena, California the city of roses. We have such an amazing guest to start off season 2, let me introduce you all to BEN. He is a black belt in martial arts and he has spent 20 years in the penitentiary due to penal system being unjust. I can write so much about him but please take a listen and get to know him for yourself.
Welcome to the boy Mac show. I'm the boy Mac I got with me today. One that you might know already from what's the word podcast die for di Ky in the building. Let's go. And we have a special, very special, special guest here. That's dear to our mission and motive here in life. You feel me, which is to free our brothers out through pen systems. You feel me? Uh, we have here with us, man are Reverend himself. Roy, Roy, how are you feeling today,
Speaker 2:Roy?<laugh> not too bad there. Other Roy. Yep.
Speaker 1:Uh, so you know, I was talking to Roy Jones Jr. And he said, I told him, I said, Roy junior, you know, Roy is getting outta prison after all this time, man, after near at dub. Now I met you in the journey. How, how many years in did I meet you on the journey?
Speaker 2:Let's see that would've been 2011. So got about eight years in.
Speaker 1:I, I meet, I met you in 11,
Speaker 2:2011. We
Speaker 1:Got a lot of work done in that
Speaker 2:Short time. Beautiful Ironwood state prison. Jesus,
Speaker 1:That's a rough situation. But at the time we were printing books, uh, we had put out a couple publications. They were doing pretty good on in a coat sphere and uh, in the penitentiary world, that was a pimp life. And uh, my partner crime, me and my boy, Chicago red. Y'all seen him on the show too. Every time one of our boys gets home free. We bring him on the show, let him know what it do. You feel me now rev is special. Uh, not only because he helped edit and format our books and manuscripts and the tight clean print, but he also afforded me the ability to get in touch with Hollywood from the pen rev was offered, you know, script rolls from the pen. You know what I'm saying? And uh, with such high on the line, high stakes, uh, budgets and film budgets on the line, you know what I mean, needed a, a trustable person to go out into the world, uh, as his eyes and ears. And, you know, we did to that, to our best of our abilities and, you know, uh, got a lot of experience and credits of all sorts going a long ways, man, in one prizes, competitions and literature from all walks of life, all cattle go and Spears, you know, he is a tough dude, man. And uh, you know, that's how we linked and met, you know? Uh, but the goal is always to bring our brothers home man. And this man I have witnessed from the time that I just barely the fraction of time that I had him. I witnessed him get sent back to court of the county so many times to reverse his, drop his and all that man. So how, what did you come into California pen with? What did they give you? What did they sentence you with originally?
Speaker 2:Well, backing up a little bit. I actually got arrested by the FBI Lord at mercy. They tried to make a federal case.
Speaker 1:Where'd you get arrested at?
Speaker 2:I was in yellow stone was in
Speaker 1:A cabin. Is that a place Yellowstone way? Yellowstone S park Yellowstone national park. I was actually about this place, Wyoming. Why homie
Speaker 2:By the old faithful Guer. Ooh, I know exactly where that is. I think technically I'm allowed, but uh, I've only been off parole for what day is it? One, One on Tuesday, three, Tuesday. So actually I've been on parole for four days, four days or 11, depending on how you
Speaker 1:Actually, they started your while you was still locked
Speaker 2:Up. Yeah, I was on parole for the last day. I was locked up. They forgot to click a box and left me in there, left his
Speaker 1:in there, forgot to click a God
Speaker 2:Box. Cuz when the governor grants parole or rather when the board grants parole, they automatically check a little box that says, hold pending governor's review. And that hold stays there so that after the board does their review, the governor gets his 30 day review. They don't release somebody too early before everybody's checked the box and said they're okay. But this time when I got the date and everybody else, 29 other people that went with me, they forgot to uncheck that box. So we were all just sitting there for a week. It wasn't until all the lawyers started to calling in and hollering
Speaker 1:And yelling back let's back it up a little bit. Before that, before that even was possible, they had to have what was the that we had to talk about? Was it a board hearing,
Speaker 2:Right? That was an on bond, hearing a
Speaker 1:On that's
Speaker 2:What I was looking for unboxing, as they say in bank, right?
Speaker 1:Like in bank, the on ban hearing, you understand
Speaker 2:Me sometimes it's important to try to at least make it a French. You know, you never
Speaker 1:Block<laugh>
Speaker 2:But after the feds arrested me, I spent about 10 months. They couldn't make a case out of it. They dismissed it. And I was released for about 45 seconds from one van. And you're talking about the in bank hearing? No, I'm I'm backing up. You went way, way back. Oh, okay. I'm backing back up to 2000 to nexus
Speaker 1:Four, exactly. To Wyoming.
Speaker 2:So in 2000 I was arrested in 2003, spent nine, 10 months with the feds and then they dismissed it. Lack of evidence and jurisdictional issues. Then I went to the county LA county jail, lovely place. That, that is how'd
Speaker 1:You get to LA county from Wyoming.
Speaker 2:I was extradited by the FBI. I actually took, they had seized six little weird jets from some Columbian drug Lord. So they used those to bounce people back and forth for extradition, kind of a nice ride, but I wasn't really that happy to be on it. You know what I mean? I mean,
Speaker 3:Yellowstone is like a paradise though. Like it's like, you know, that's where people go to
Speaker 1:Vacation. Like how the you get arrested in Wyoming? How they find a in Wyoming? Well,
Speaker 2:I wasn't hiding from the
Speaker 1:Cops. I'm just saying like how so? They like this is in, I'll go camping in Wyoming. And
Speaker 2:They looking for me. No, I actually worked for a big company that did all the concessions. I was waiting tables. So, so they were looking for you and just, I had a card employee ID card, social, all that. So I mean, I was, they were just looking
Speaker 1:And they were that, that was where you were at. Right.
Speaker 2:Got you. So we headed back there. I went to LA county. I spent two years there and I went to trial in 2005. But in the feds before I left, I was fighting the death penalty. Wait,
Speaker 1:Wait, you got me all up. You was in the feds of the county. Well,
Speaker 2:In the feds, I fought the death penalty. Then I went to the county and then in the county they put the death penalty on the table again.
Speaker 1:So you beat the fed case, right? You beat the fed case. Right.
Speaker 2:But they didn't let me out. They just, the state refiled and charged it as a murder there.
Speaker 1:Two murders. So beats the fed case.<laugh> they don't let me out. Right. It's when the times you in court, they say not guilty, hold up and still shuffle him. So how
Speaker 3:Homie me, tell me one time that you can get state time for just being in a fed case.
Speaker 1:God, like we gonna charge your just for, we didn't get it
Speaker 3:Case we didn't get you federally. Right? But because we even looking at you mother
Speaker 1:Got you. Here's a case
Speaker 2:Got, so this took that off the table and that we finally beat it in just the death penalty part in the state. But I went to trial and my Case's pretty complicated, but shorter version of it, the victims in my case were burglars that got caught breaking into the house. But the house they were in, people were up to no good. So they broke into a house where there was already other illegal stuff happening. But burglar got caught, ended up in two, one on one fights. And because of my own military martial arts training that made the whole trial about that.
Speaker 1:Right. If God a chalin, if you come Rob a Shain master in California, the Shain master may or may not do life in prison, depending on the circumstances of the political atmosphere. God it. All right now,
Speaker 2:Fairness and transparency. I did plenty of illegal things before and after didn't call the cops and it was going on<affirmative> but it never should have been a murder. Gotcha. However, that's what it was. It was my fault from a moral standpoint. But
Speaker 1:Especially we won't, we won't go into any SP more. I know that we beat every charge. Right. But I am just so terrified of these. You understand me? And don't wanna pull out any weapons<laugh> do you understand me? No, I, so we're gonna skip past the details, right? Y'all could read the book. If you want the details. The man has a book coming out. There you go. You know, his mom who I met and knew dearly, you know, uh, heard of the situation and dropped everything to come out and help him fight the situation. Cuz she knows her son. No OS just the character of the dude and wouldn't be, would be w so she came out and fought the whole thing with him and started writing a book on her whole process and everything and her love for the boy and you know, sad enough to say she passed away. Um, before RA get home, you feel me, but vowed for him to finish the book. And he's took up that vow and have you completed
Speaker 2:The book yet? I finished the draft of it yet. My mom's part's done and polished. I pitched it to my mom's agent and I changed the structure of the book. So it goes leapfrogging chapters, her, me, her, me. So it's really a dual memoir told from both sides of the bars. That's right. You get a person out there's perspective. And then ours, all the little white lies, we tell each other to try to get comfort. You
Speaker 3:Know, actually a lot of those shows and I watch a lot of them about, um, like the Texas death row and stuff like that. That's what they do. Like the, the, the, the camera crews and bear edit with the family, dealing with it and they together go back and forth and tell the story. So that's the best way to tell it, bro. That's actually what people are doing with shows nowadays, anyways, you know what I'm saying? So the format fit. It
Speaker 1:Does, man. What the story behind it is vicious. It's like to get into any one component could take up like hours of conversation to jump to any aspect of any one dynamic range of we shooting through it. We, we haven't even. We still at the nexus. He still has, well, this part easy. This is Wyoming. So
Speaker 2:Went to trial 2005 was convicted of two counts. First degree murder. The judge refused to give any self defense instruc. The jury was not allowed to consider self defense despite the burglary or the fight. And I got double life without consecutive, forever times, two
Speaker 1:Double life without that's called all letters, bro. Ain't no numbers in your sentence. Everybody
Speaker 3:Say bye to Ashley
Speaker 1:By Ashley, by Ashley. Peace out. Thank you.
Speaker 2:It's wet out there. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Try say baby. Thank
Speaker 1:Out. When their started talking double numbers to me, I almost passed out. I said, what?
Speaker 2:Yeah. People did were
Speaker 1:Peoplea came back. I said, yeah. Was that real? Did that happen? They said, yes. Mr. SIM, we, we go, uh, still hit you with, uh, your deal is 25 years Up. Boy, come back up. I'm like, God. I'm like, oh. How many years that happened? Like four, five times I passed out on him, cement. And this
Speaker 2:Is like kind of speeding through it. This is where stuff gets kind of weird. So I went on direct appeal. I was waiting for the appeal. And somebody told me that you have a less than 1% chance of your case being overturned at all. And a 10% of that one sent our murder cases. So I went in on direct appeal just with a diligent lawyer that they appointed me, just this guy and my case got overturned because they didn't give self defense instructions. So they overturned the whole thing and sent me back for trial again. What year was that? That was 2007, September 11th, 2007, two years later. So then I went back to county for another two years. You, you moving too
Speaker 1:Fast. You sat around two years with all letters I did on your head.
Speaker 2:Never getting out. Whew.
Speaker 1:Out the PI possibility. That's all letters. You don't even have a possibility, bro. You don't even need to come do nothing. Do no class don't even come before us. Don't talk to us. You ain't no possibility. You're not like, what day is it? Right?<laugh> like, you know what I mean? Like you don't care about no legislation and nothing. Okay. The truth is
Speaker 2:I never believed it. Right. I didn't buy it. I refused to believe it. That's right. My mom always told me Nole, God makes a way outta no way. That's right. Don't you dare give up hope. So she kind of beat that into me. Sometimes she had to don't give up hope. Yeah. Had to play the tough mama. Bear with me a bit. But so I didn't, they overturned it again. 2007, I went back and got a private journey this time. And I went to trial in 2009 and 2009. I was acquitted of first degree murder on both counts, acquitted of voluntary manslaughter. And second degree on one count, which wound me up with one count of second degree murder and one count of involuntary manslaughter for a total of 19 years to life. So then I went back to prison again, this time I lost the direct appeal, 2011 and my original attorney in the feds, Sean Kennedy, the federal public defender at the time, he always told me once you're a client you're is a client. So I called him up and said, Hey, remember your guarantee? He said, yeah, I was just waiting for your call. Here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna send out investigators. So I read every scrap of paper, something like 16,000 pieces of paper. And I got to the last one and it was just some receipt. I wasn't gonna read it it. And I thought, you know, it's gonna bug me forever. Right? If I don't at least finish that one piece of paper. So I looked down and it said, juror question, form one jurors, discuss question form, juror question form two. And then nothing. No mention of it. So I wrote my lawyer, Sean Kennedy, a note that said, what second juror question. There was only one question he said, are you sure said, oh, I know because when the jury has a question, they make you put on your suit, get in the elevator, your heart pounding in your chest because you think this is it. This is gonna be the verdict. And then they ask a question. Well, that only happened one time investigators come out, they go to this guy and say, Hey, we have this question about, uh, the question you guys asked, the judge jar, you wrote a note to the judge. And he said, ah, yeah, I figured this is gonna happen. Is this about that lady that didn't speak English?<laugh> the investigator said, what? Who didn't the juror? A juror? One of the jurors did not speak English. Yeah. That's what this is about. Isn't it? Uh, yeah. Let's talk about that. That's exactly what we're talking. So the lady says, yeah. Um, I think we're gonna have to go interview this person. So the viewed this lady, her name was Edith. They go to her house, knock on the door. A Latina lady answers the door with a bag over her shoulder. Like she's just on the way out. The investigator says, are you Edith? She says, no, that's my sister. But she'll be back in like 10 minutes. She says, oh well, can I ask what it's regarding? Uh, look, I'm an investigator. I, some questions about trial. She served on a few years ago, the lady said, oh, set the bag down and said, well I better stick around then cuz my sister doesn't speak English. She might need me to translate. And they were like, would you mind writing that down too? In a declaration? She said, sure. So she's writing this declaration down. And she says, actually I had to fill out the jury summons paperwork for that trial. Cause my sister couldn't read it. Wow. So while they're sitting in there writing the thing up, the real lady Edith came in and it's just a federal investigator, but they got a little badge and the lady was freaking out. So she was panicking. So didn't want her to panic. So they got her a lawyer appointed her one for herself and a translator. And finally they found out what's happened. And she says she had to write a declaration in Spanish and they had to translate. It said she had a fifth grade education and that was in Mexico. And she estimated, she understood 20 to third percent of my trial. They asked her that was the
Speaker 1:That was like, I would understand if a said, how many times he said C
Speaker 2:Yeah. Or Spanish in a trial. Right? Yeah. And they was like, are we gonna to lunch? Like, okay, right. Guilty what
Speaker 3:Happened? And, and of course there was a translator during your trial for all this, right? Oh. Of
Speaker 2:Come back and forth. Nothing. Not a bit of it. So I mean, it, it was unreal. So we get this it's crazy transcript back of this declaration back, the judge sees it on appeal and says, oh, we may have to ask this. So they subpoena them. They get all the jurors in there and ask the questions. And finally we manage to ring up five jurors that were willing to come testify on my behalf because of the case. They always felt like they got kind of hamstrung in it. So including the lady and her sister testified that she had to translate all court documents for her and everything. So this lady gets on the stand and the first thing she said, can I have the translator? And the judge said, well, I'm uh, I mean, you're here to find out if you can get out without a translator. So if I give you a translator, I guess the hearing's over. So no, we can't do that. So the question starts like this in 2009, when you were seated as a juror, where did you report to? I'm sorry. Accept my English. Not good. I can't really understand. Hey, where did you report to? I report my English. Not good. Finally. My lawyer just says, Ms. Gomez, were you eventually seated on the jury in a murder trial? And she says, I can't understand what you say.
Speaker 1:I, I don't know what you
Speaker 2:Talking about. Yeah. And so they, she left. So it got so bad that the judge on the bench who was also a Vanai court judge took over the questioning herself. So, well, wait a minute. So you told the judge about this. Yes. So you were van on van ice. I was in van ice on, yeah. That's what that's why Ida? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And man, they just kept asking, uh, all the jurors the questions and they said, well, I mean, what did the judge tell you when you told him that? Uh, he said it was too late in the game to make changes. Now
Speaker 1:They trying to get my man's removed. He was like, hold up. I ain't want no like that.
Speaker 2:Didn't tell anybody he got this note. What happened to the judge, man? Well, so that's kind of a good story too. They, he got the note looked at it that said that the lady didn't speak English. Well, it said that she couldn't communicate. And he took the note, SL it under his desk. Didn't tell anyone and sent the jury back in. Nobody knew anything about it. Wasn't until we had this hearing and we finally got to hear it. Oh my God. So the da says at the end of this hearing, when he's obviously really badly losing, well, your honor, it's about more than a search for truth or just law. I one on the other side of the net, I, we really need to get all parties opinion here. So we really need to get judge Hurst's opinion. And the judge at the bench said, are you asking to subpoena a superior court judge? Oh, judge. Wow. Right. And he says, uh, well, I think that's the only way to get the story. And she says, I real don't think that's gonna change the state of the evidence much, but asking you shall receive. So she sends it on back. So I come back to court and this time my trial judge is on the stand getting cross-examined by my lawyer. Oh my goodness. So there's a van ice court judge on the stand and then there's another one on the bench. And you know, that judge was not happy. He was off. So my, my lawyer starts to question and says, your honor, and they both say what I'm like. And I said, well, I mean, is this weird? Or I don't know. I don't have anything to compare it to. I didn't have any criminal record before. And then I hear this whispering behind me, scratch. I turn around and there's like eight bailiffs behind me going<laugh> okay. So it's, it's not normal obviously. Right? So he gets on the stand and says what my attorney says, do you remember the juror questions in this trial? He said, well, the first one was a question. The second one is one. I would just consider to be more of a request for guidance. My lawyer does this dead pen. Are you referring to juror question form two? Well, yeah. What does it say? So he hands it to him. It says, what do we do? Well, why didn't you tell them? Uh, wait, uh, judge starts sweating, beat a sweat, coming out his forehead. Wow. He's tripping out. And then he actually says, my judge. Remember it clearly to this moment. Oh, I remember now. See what happened was<laugh> my judge just says, see what happened was, oh,
Speaker 3:What happened was that's the line. Hey, that's the line. When, when someone owe you money, that's the line. When someone owe you money and you ran into all
Speaker 2:Happened was<laugh>.
Speaker 3:Oh, lemme tell you see.
Speaker 2:So he said, so I got the first question. And then at the same time, I got the second question that came in at the same packet. So I answered the first question and at, I really meant to answer the second question, but before I could answer it, the jury buzzed with the verdict. So I, you know, of course I assumed, oh my God, that they had worked it on out. So my lawyer walks up and says, I'm putting three pieces of paper in front of you. Judge. Juror question form one juror question form two. And the card. Could you please read the time stamps on each of these card? Hey, juror question form 1 10 50 6:00 AM. Juror question form 2 11 50 4:00 AM an hour later, right? And the verdict card. Nothing judge. Herwitz nothing. Finally, the judge on the bench says, judge Herwitz will answer the question please. And he says, it says 3:46 PM. And the whole courtroom starts murmuring, like what the hell's going. And so he says, so obviously nothing you just said could possibly have happened that way. The judge says, well, I it's been a long time. Yeah. My lawyer turns around and looks at me, sitting in the chair and says, it certainly has and sits down. Bam. You know
Speaker 3:What that was like, Hey, that was like that. Remember that movie? A few good men with Tom cruise. And can't the truth. That's what happened right there, there, he had his slam dunked ready SKU.
Speaker 2:<laugh> my existence. While gro test to you saves lives. Yeah.
Speaker 3:You know what I mean? Yeah. Yo right. I<laugh>.
Speaker 2:So then just to top it all off, just to be safe, cuz you have to prove it and then re you proven it and prove it again. Mm-hmm<affirmative> my attorneys had a linguist PhD from Mopar college test Ediths English for two full days. She tested seven levels too low, novice, low to be a competent juror and even a simple trial, let alone a complicated one. So they had overturn, they scouted her. So they overturned it again. So then I had a third trial, 2016 in December, I got sentenced in 2 20 17. They overturned what though, man, what? They overturn it when, when they reverse it, it's kind of like, you just go back to square one. It's like you got arrested except that they cannot try you for the things you've already been the double acquit type of. Yeah. That you've been overturned for. Right? The stuff that well, the stuff that you acquitted. No, no that got acquitted. Like if you, when took it gets overturned, it means the only thing that's gone is the guilty verdict. They can still try you. You can only do like two overturned though. Right? Right. In fact on Thursday, I parole old from prison myself on Friday. So on Thursday when I was in line, somebody said, so that's it. They can't send you to court anymore. There's nothing that could happen. I said, well, I mean, I suppose technically they could overturn my case on appeal completely. And then if my convictions were gone, my parole grant would be based on a conviction that didn't exist. And so yeah, they said, well that mean you'd be acquitted. Right? I said, no, that means they could try me for a forced time. Yes. So. I'm glad that didn't happen. So the third time I got convicted of second d egree felony murder and the odd thing about that is second d egree. Felony murder no longer exists. January 1st, 2019 Senate bill 1437, AKA the felony murder bill t hrew o ut second d egree felony murder. So it no longer exists. That's why, u m, that Scott Peterson got resentenced. Right, right. B ecause of that bill. Y ep. Right? Yeah. Because felony murder m akes sense. We all r obbing a bank. I f ire a warning shot into the c eiling.< affirmative> and kill a secretary on the second floor. Well, they don't have to prove I had malice towards the secretary. M m-hmm< affirmative> because what we were doing was so dangerous already. Y eah. That meets the malice intent. But for second d egree, felony murder, it's defined basically, as you commit a dangerous felony, that's not listed as a dangerous felony and someone dies. what the hell does that mean? Nobody could figure it out. They threw it out. But that's actually what I got convicted of. And so then what did they, re-sentence you under? Uh, they still the same 19 to life, but uh, they passed prop 57 and people were allowed to get more time for credits even people with violent offenses. So I lost with college degrees and a lot of self-help things. I knocked off about four and a half years from my time. So I went to the parole board a lot earlier, 2019, I was granted parole. And then the governor reversed it. Hey then I had to fight it again. So I kept fighting, fighting July 20, 21, granted parole for the second time. This time the governor didn't reverse it. He sent it and now we're at the on bond hearing. Mm-hmm<affirmative> and a lot of my friends and supporters came and did a two minute zoom call called in, in a setting sorta like this to the parole board and spoke on my behalf, including buddy's wife here, some psychologists and people. And finally on November 23rd, they confirm my parole and I got out Friday and now I'm here and, and here we are now we're here now we're starting over Yellowstone weather though, right? Yeah. It does kind of seem like<laugh> Yellowstone or Seattle. Maybe. Yeah. Seattle. Yeah. But now we're starting completely over. Gotta leave that stuff behind us. Yep. Grab the lessons we learned and keep it moving. Don't ever look back. Keep it moving.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. And keep it push. Congratulations.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much, Lee. I'm I'm make extremely, extremely happy for you. Well
Speaker 1:You, but you know, there's a big hurdle, still a big hurdle with guys getting out. You know what I mean? I did close to a, a dime. You feel me? Mm-hmm<affirmative> and uh, it was hurdles getting re acclimated into this. You feel me? Yep. Uh, so as I've been telling cats, you know, uh, you know, what's been the biggest shocker so far since you've been outside the cages.
Speaker 2:I think it's that when you try to get an idea of a new concept while you're adjusting to it, three new things happen.<laugh> that's what this man tells me right here. He said, look, I know you you've already got everything all made out with lists and plans and post-its and boxes to check and everything. Yep. He said, you already know exactly what road you're gonna go down. The problem is you're gonna get out here and see nobody drives on the road anymore. You gotta learn how to drive the space. Right. Absolutely. And he's right. We actually just left the phone place. Cuz I managed with my first iPhone to lock myself outta the phone<laugh> so we had to go to the phone place<laugh> I was just entering the code this time and he was going,<laugh> see that. Right. Trying to figure it out, but
Speaker 1:Make sure that don't lock up again.
Speaker 2:But you know, I think that the, one of the hardest things I think is the lack of structure. You don't realize it cuz I never even liked structure, but you're at least used to it happening. Yep. Everybody's getting up at a certain time at six. I didn't always get up at six consistency. Yeah. Sometimes I would skip it, but if I skipped it'd skip it by a little bit. Like until seven<laugh> here. It's like, if you didn't get up, you just sleep till 11 or last night. I completely forgot to go to sleep altogether.<laugh><laugh> completely stone cold, sober, nothing. But, but I got my wheels spinning so much, all these different ideas and reading. I finally got internet. I've had a Facebook page since Facebook came out, but 300 friends and supporters never even been on it. It's the first time I got on it was like, yeah, just start to figure it out and you get kind of addicted to oh wow. I'm connected to the world again. I don't live in a little box. That's right. I'm not in storage. That's
Speaker 1:Right. You know what? Um,
Speaker 3:Not<laugh> that's how he houses us. They just hold us in storage bro. Oh. My homie, JD, who we would talked to earlier, the same thing. But I'm gonna tell you, like he caught on it to, to especially he's the artist too. So he got in the studio, they saw this, you guys, you know, can articulate information very well with what you've been through to where it's like, oh, okay. You know what I mean? Like when he first got out, I just, he was overcomplicate like, oh I'm like J you know what you're doing, bro?<laugh> you know what I mean? Like, and, and it's it. It's a beautiful thing to see. But, but, and you
Speaker 2:Said, what was it? You said that his issue was like, he was gonna get granted, parole looked like, and then something
Speaker 3:Happened. Yeah, he, this is man and he's he's on here. Um, I think it was like five years ago and I mean, he, like, they throwing Chino and you know, he'd been level four, his whole life, all that. And they're like, yo, you're rolling pro, okay. They're gonna put you level two, Chino 4 0 1 15
Speaker 2:Right up.
Speaker 3:You know what I'm saying? Like, he didn't even really lose anything, you know, but, but he lost this parole that, I mean, I'm telling you, we was like, okay, who's, you know, who's picking him up. Are we, are we filming this with, you know, we was like ready
Speaker 2:And that's, and that's the kind of thing. I wish that there was some money interest about, because that shouldn't have happened because the law says that if somebody's gonna do something, that's gonna deny parole. Yeah. Go. There has to be what they call a rational nexus to the crime. Mm-hmm<affirmative> so if you're in there for a murder and you're in prison, you steal the washcloth. Those two things are not so related that they have anything to do with your crime. They may not be the greatest thing, but they're not related. So that shouldn't happen.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no. Yeah. And um, like it, it, it kind of blindsided all of us really. Like, you know, obviously I felt worse for him. Sure. Like, you know, and, and well, obviously his family too, but it was like, and he said it earlier, he is like, you know, they'll do anything to kind of blindside you or get whatever mix they can. And you know, you just talk about the jury, didn't speak English. They knew that obviously no, yo someone knew, but they, the judge knew. I mean, you have to pick a jury. She was picked for a reason. Well,
Speaker 2:The thing is, I actually of course reread the transcript. She just said, yes, no. Yeah. Like seven times later I found out how it happened. All that really happened is she went in the jury room or rather, even before she got there, she checked in and said, no, English. They said, no, English, Uhuh, you're a naturalized citizen. Yeah. You're supposed to speak English. You ain't getting outta here. Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. You gotta do jury duty to like everybody else go over there. Yeah. Now she didn't understand what they said, but she was pretty sure they said she was gonna get deported if she didn't do it. So they just took off. And so she went in there and said, yes, no, yes, no. With thick accent. But how many people, you know, got thick accents. I mean, it happens all the time. Yeah. People come move here from New York and have an accent for 40 years. They just decide not to adapt. You know, not just
Speaker 3:That, you know, out here, like in the valley, you know, everything. I mean, it, you know, there's all sorts of walks of people from all over the place, you know what I mean? Like it's, you know, LA's very diverse, you know what I mean? So it, so it's like, we
Speaker 2:Are the United colors of Benn. Yeah.
Speaker 3:<laugh> but I mean, you you're taking a chance, not a chance, but I mean, like there's a ton of people out here, all sorts of different races. And I mean, they're part of this culture. So it's like a lot of people are gonna have an accent. A lot of people are, you know, they knew exactly what they were doing. Sure. They knew exactly what they were doing.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And, and we knew that he knew that now that we didn't know at the time, because every time they asked the question, he would clear the room, but,
Speaker 3:But you know, it's murder charge and you're the worst of the worst. And you know,
Speaker 2:I even worried, like I was thinking about your buddy, got that, write up. I made it my mission to not get in any kind of trouble. I mean, I, and that is really difficult to do. That means swallowing stuff. That means not getting in fights that you feel like you should get into in 18 years. I never had a single write up the whole time and the governor still reversed it because if they wanna do it, they're gonna do it.
Speaker 3:We'll call the time we'll call JD and, and get a little something for him before we get off. But yeah, no, I was, I was, I was highly upset and, and it, him not just that like, and he out now. So we, I actually had him when he caught home on the podcast of mine. But, uh, you know, he is like, we talk about it now, but there was years, you know, that I talked to him and he had a cell phone, you know, we had to talk to whatever the I want. Really. He went through years of like, I don't wanna get caught with nothing. I don't want they about to. It's about to hit. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And that's kind of one of the things I have an admission that dovetails with this one is that I'm all about the inside man. There are people in there. A few of'em that I know did not do the crime that they're in there for him. Got a good buddy, Tom, this guy, it wasn't even that they got the wrong. There was no crime girl just made the entire thing up. Wow. Here's your story for a burglary. She should be prosecuting. Check the story out. She says, she pulled up to the garage, hit the garage door, open her button, door opens. She drives in, hits the button again and the door won't go. So she gets out, looks up and realizes that the cables have been cut. And that's how she knew she got burglars.<laugh> that's her story. It's like, wait a minute. That is a technological miracle. And that
Speaker 3:Guy's still in there, but this kid was a, my, I think he was like 15 or 16. He got arrested for supposedly stealing the backpack. Right? Oh, I did see that. He ended up doing three years, no trial, no nothing in Rikers. And then it wasn't even the, I mean, obviously the charges were dropped, but it was like, oh yeah, it's been way too long. And, and the guy that actually didn't even accuse of it, but said, I got robbed, actually lived back to Mexico. And um, three years of Rikers, no trial, he and he killed himself from, from the trauma of, you know, wow. Everything. I mean, it was literally everything that is wrong with our justice system to, to a 16 year old. And the, and the stupid party is it happens all the time, but what they get convicted of, right? It's like, I didn't, what do you, I didn't do none of that. Right. I did this, uh, it's part of,
Speaker 2:So guy steal a VC R tape back when there was such a thing, he stepped outside. They ran after him and he ran and tripped and the guy tripped over him and they got him or what great bodily injury for the other guy. Cuz he hit his head. When he tripped over the guy or stealing, he did 22 years before he finally only got to go to board and go home
Speaker 3:Shahan redemption. He was like, I got a soap because told me, he put my hands up and I dropped the TV on his phone. He was working the laundry river. I knew it was one of them. But yeah like<laugh>
Speaker 1:No, I thought you moved well, call out feature is tripping. You know?
Speaker 2:Is he still work here? Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I thought people were just wandering in
Speaker 1:Often. No man. Uh, I've been trying to get this, uh, this little callin feature to work. We got guests trying to call in and it's not letting us connect. Oh no. You know, I don't know if it's the weather or what, but you know
Speaker 2:Hey Siri, how's the weather.
Speaker 1:Hey Siri.
Speaker 2:Hey ask sir. How to do the calling?
Speaker 1:You know what she knows. Let's see. I Siri don't work. I don't even like that listening. I don't never use Siri. Don't listen to me. Yeah. But how even do that.
Speaker 2:But you know, when you're locked up for 18 years, even a fake girl to talk to is better than no girl. Hey, I feel
Speaker 3:That
Speaker 2:Feel that Siri doesn't eat much either.
Speaker 3:Nah, she's kind of low maintenance. You know, she's low maintenance, you know? And you know what? Like you could not talk to her for a long time and she'll answer like right away when you finally do so mad at like nothing, like nothing happens. She ain't gonna be
Speaker 1:Mad at you. Siri. Ain't gonna get mad at, unless you fall
Speaker 2:A. I was falling asleep and said experience. She goes, oh you're welcome. And I was like,
Speaker 1:Yep. What the, you call her a too many times. She'd be like, please don't talk to me like that.<laugh> I'd like, listen. They better reprogram you. to me.<laugh>
Speaker 3:Reprogram. You just gotta have the GPS set up to that. She answers like that on the right streets. You know, once she gets off for that little, uh, the blade, you know what I mean? Then she acts normally again, act normally again.<laugh>
Speaker 2:Hold on your greatest accent. She's never looked familiar to anybody. I dunno an
Speaker 3:Park. You just got the phone, right? They already sold your number to somebody. Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:That's scandalous. See who it is. Hey. Hello? Hello.
Speaker 3:Is anybody out there? Hello mate.<laugh> let's
Speaker 2:Bring it. So we're just trying to figure this out. So he hooked it up with two, two numbers on my phone, right? Okay. You put the one, what was it like a 2, 1, 3 number to that one. The one that ended like 0 4, 4 1. So that number when the phone rings or when there's a text, all the texts go to me. But when it's a phone call, it goes to some other dude. Oh,
Speaker 1:We're gonna make sure it link. Right? It's just going into your settings and your, your Gmail. It might be some
Speaker 2:Actually I found out what happened, cuz he's been talking to other people. He's like, I'm not Benjamin. I'm sorry. I'm not Benjamin<laugh> but he's finally got to the point where he's like, look, I, I figured out what happened for some reason. When I used the Google voice thing, this is my Google voice number. It goes there. But for whatever, he had a so they're split like that. He said I felt bad, but after a while I just, everybody was asking for Benjamin. So often I've finally just started going with it. Okay. Fine. I'm Benjamin. Like I had a,
Speaker 3:I had a parole officer show up in my door. Like<laugh>, you know what I mean, Benjamin? Well,
Speaker 1:That's what's up man. I'm glad
Speaker 2:My hands. I was actually wondering though. I's sticking man kind. When you start putting all the track marks in your back of your knuckles and stuff,
Speaker 3:I just keep looking at'em and. I'm like, I don't wanna say nah, but I don't notice it until I'm like on the phone. And I'm like, ah,
Speaker 1:Look like you've been in a fight with a posum
Speaker 3:Like. You know what I'm saying? Nah, but she she's she's sweet little dog, but her it's like, like razor sharp and I with her. Go ahead.
Speaker 1:You gotta saw her man with the
Speaker 3:Foul. Just declaw her teeth or what? Hell yeah.
Speaker 1:Have her known a bone. We just consider this our small, our small smoke break. We have a small commercial break right now.