Free Dontae Sharpe! Free Dontae Sharpe!
- It has been 23 years since Dontae's arrest
and sentence of a murder he did not commit.
- Dontae Sharpe, the oldest of four brothers,
stepped into a provider role at a really early age.
- My brother was my superhero.
- Then, on February 12, 1994,
in an alleged drug deal gone bad,
a wealthy white man was shot dead.
Witnesses pointed the finger at Dontae,
and he was convicted of first-degree murder
and sentenced to life in prison without parole.
- For almost a quarter century,
Dontae has maintained his innocence,
refusing plea bargains
that would have sent him home
to his family.
- I love my mama. I love my daughter.
I wanna go home and be with my family.
But I just can't take something
for something I didn't do.
- His supporters believe the eyewitness accounts
and physical evidence tell two different stories.
- Dontae Sharpe didn't do it.
So, the person who shot him is out.
- But the fact remains--
two different witnesses came forward,
independently claiming Dontae was the triggerman.
- She said, "He did it. I saw it."
Free Dontae Sharpe! - Now, his supporters have
asked the governor, the attorney general,
and the Pitt County district attorney
to review Dontae's case.
These reviews could lead to his freedom
and potential exoneration.
- Right now is a critical time in Dontae's fight for freedom.
This is the moment that could determine his fate.
- Free... - Dontae Sharpe!
- When? - Now!
- Five years in prison for a crime I didn't commit.
- 18 years as a criminal prosecutor.
As a team, we will examine cases of convicted killers
who claim they are innocent.
- Are they victims or are they criminals?
We will follow the facts wherever they lead us.
The five years that I spent in prison,
being wrongfully accused and convicted of rape,
were the hardest years of my life.
I vowed to myself that, upon getting my life back,
the first thing that I would do is reach right back
into that dark hole and pull out another person
who didn't deserve to be there.
- I'm Sarah Blakely, Dontae Sharpe's mother.
You know, my son was given life for something that I know,
without a shadow of a doubt, that he didn't do.
And that's why I stood behind him for these 23 years.
It's been a hard struggle. - Yes.
- And I know you know this is a battle
that's getting ready to be won.
Let's free Dontae Sharpe. - Free Dontae Sharpe!
Free Dontae Sharpe!
- Dontae Sharpe has been in prison
for almost a quarter of a century
for a crime he says he did not commit.
Looking at the Dontae Sharpe case...
on the face of it, it looks very simple.
It's an apparent drug deal gone bad.
But it's more complicated than that.
Here's essentially what the case is.
You have got a guy being murdered,
here, in Greenville, North Carolina,
in February of 1994.
The victim, George Radcliffe, is this wealthy white guy.
He's killed in a poor, black neighborhood
in this two-block area
that's well-known for drug dealing.
- Mm-hmm. - And that's where he's found,
shot dead in his truck.
Dontae Sharpe's a drug dealer.
He was the one in charge of this block.
The prosecution ends up being two witnesses:
Beatrice, who's a well-known drug user...
- Mm-hmm. - And a 13-year-old-girl,
Charlene Johnson. She's their main case.
She is the one who points to Dontae Sharpe
and says, "I saw him shoot that white guy."
And she says Dontae had an accomplice,
Mark Joyner, but there's no physical evidence
that corroborates that Dontae Sharpe is the killer.
You know, what did the police find
was so convincing and credible about that one statement?
A jury convicted him based on this testimony.
- Mm-hmm.
- Out of the thousands of cases out there
where people say they're innocent,
Dontae Sharpe's case stands out because, soon after the trial,
the 13-year-old girl recanted
and said she wasn't even there that night.
This conviction has stayed throughout the years...
- Mm-hmm. - Despite Charlene recanting.
- I have so many questions.
How did the shooting actually take place, you know?
And how did Dontae's name come up?
Why did it stick? - What was going on
in Charlene's head when she came out
and made this statement? Why did she recant?
What caused her to change her story?
- You have the wrong person. Witnesses have recanted.
We want for the government to grant
an executive commutation of sentence
and pardon of innocence in the case of Dontae Sharpe,
due to overwhelming evidence of actual innocence.
- Free... - Dontae Sharpe!
- When? - Now!
female reporter: A rally in Raleigh for a Pitt County man
who family and friends say
was wrongly convicted 20 years ago.
- Free Dontae Sharpe.
We are now at--in the endgame.
- This is such a critical time for Dontae.
His supporters have actually taken his case
to three different venues: the governor's office,
the DA's office, and the attorney general's office.
They're all looking at this case
to see if it was a wrongful conviction.
He's never going to be in such a position
where he's got three different chances
of getting his case looked at and a ruling in his favor.
If all three of them are denied,
it's a long shot that he'll ever have another chance.
- Hundreds were in attendance for this event,
rallying together to show their support for...
female reporter: ...1994 conviction stems
from a murder that happened
during the course of a drug buy.
male reporter: Has maintained
his innocence from the beginning,
and the facts have followed his claim
over the years.
- If we discover that there is reasonable doubt
that Dontae committed this crime,
we need to take this information
to those that are now reviewing Dontae's case.
So, it's go time. I mean, this is it.
For me, first, it's meeting Dontae,
and me being able to just read him.
I'm coming at this from my own experience.
I went from being a highly-recruited,
All-American football player,
to being convicted-- wrongfully--of rape.
In order for me to prove my innocence
and get my life back, the witness in my case
had to come forward and recant her original story.
She had to admit that she made the whole thing up.
In Dontae's case, a witness has recanted,
but it wasn't enough to sway the courts,
and Dontae still remains behind bars.
- When I look at a case, I want to look at both sides
and analyze their strengths and weaknesses.
While Brian's going to go meet with Dontae Sharpe,
I'm gonna go meet with the original prosecutor
in this case, Clark Everett.
I wanna hear how he built the case against Dontae
and what made him so confident
about Dontae's guilt.
- I want Dontae to feel comfortable enough
to open up with me, because I want to find out
about the truth and what really happened.
- What's up, man?
- I'm good, man, I'm good. Have a seat.
- Yeah.
- What's your program usually like?
- We're able to go to work in a canteen.
- You been working the canteen how long now?
- About a year, about a year. - You like that one better
than the kitchen? - Yes, sir--yes, sir!
- Yes, sir.
- It's better than the kitchen. Everything beats the kitchen.
I wanted to just talk to you about
what it's been like for you the last 20-some years.
- You know, it has its ups-and-downs days.
- Mm-hmm. - You know, it's different
when you're innocent, you know what I'm saying?
You ain't got but one life, bro.
And I felt like I had thrown mine away...
- Mm-hmm. - By being in the streets,
selling drugs, and... I wasted it.
- Yeah. - You know?
- So, how'd you get to the streets?
- Well, when I was probably sixth or seventh grade...
I used to get bullied a lot. - Mm-hmm.
- I was a short, smart, fat kid.
And I seen drug dealers got respect,
and I'm saying, "This dude's littler than me.
You scared of this dude?"
I wasn't on drugs or nothing... - Yeah.
I was just addicted to being on the street.
- Yeah. - That lifestyle,
I saw what it brought me, you know what I'm saying?
- What was the product? What was you--
what was you pushing? - Crack.
- Yeah.
Was that big out where you--
- Yeah, it was real big. - Yeah.
- I knew one day, probably,
if I kept selling drugs-- I used to tell my brother
and my cousin them this-- I said,
"We gonna go to jail or hell." - Okay.
- I said, "If you be in the streets like this"--
that's what I told them.
If I'm selling drugs, I own up to it.
That's what I did. - Mm-hmm.
- But don't put a murder on me. Ain't no way in the world
nobody gonna never tell me that's right.
- As you know, we're looking at the Dontae Sharpe case.
There's been a lot of talk and sort of a groundswell
about looking at whether Dontae may
be innocent or not, and so...
back at the time of this trial,
did you believe that Dontae Sharpe was guilty?
- Yes, ma'am. I believed at that time
Dontae Sharpe was guilty,
and I believe now he's-- he was guilty.
- Okay. So, what was your case like?
- I had a truck in a garden,
I had a deceased man in the truck,
and sort--that was just about it.
- So, did you know George Radcliffe at all?
- Never met him.
- So, when this dude got shot, you just
dismissed the whole thing, like, "I ain't got--"
- Yeah, it wasn't nothing. I remember, we watched it
on the news, and watched-- 'cause, you know,
when stuff happens, especially in the area,
we're watching the news, but that's it.
- How did all that change
to where they came after you?
- They was like, "We got this girl saying you did it,"
and this and that, this and that.
I said, "Well, this girl's lying."
I said, "I did not kill that white dude."
But I said, "I ain't worried about it,"
'cause I still felt like the system
is gonna prove that I'm innocent.
- And there were two witnesses.
Beatrice Stokes saw the flash of the gun,
and was sure it was the defendant.
And we had Charlene Johnson, who was a young girl
who knew Dontae and identified him as the murderer.
- Okay, was there any other evidence
presented for the grand jury?
- There wasn't much physical evidence.
- So, she dropped your name in the bucket,
and that was enough, just based off of her word--
"we're gonna go get him."
- I guess. - And you're listening to
all of these people take the stand...
what's going on in your head?
- It was like... "Look at this.
I can't believe it." Especially when I seen Charlene,
because she used to be out there young.
She ain't had nothing, you know? And I used to look out
for her--"Girl, you need to get off this block.
You shouldn't even be out here"--
that type of stuff, you know?
- Yeah. - And she just told lies on me.
- What was it that happened with Charlene
when he was arrested?
- After he was arrested, five girls went to her house.
And they beat her up. They cut her,
pointed a gun at her. All the statements given
by the participants said that they did that
because she had talked to--
talked to police and had Dontae arrested.
- So, did that happen the same day?
- I think it was the same day.
You know, that's something that you just can't have.
And I decided that we were gonna charge them.
Each one of them plead guilty,
and received, I think, 20 year sentences.
- Wow. - If people are going to
be beating up your witnesses--
and especially a 13 or 14 year old--
that should tell you something.
- Charlene, she recanted in '97,
two days after I got convicted.
- So, the courts--did they allow the new testimony in?
- They said she was lying this time and not the last time.
- They believed that she initially was telling the truth.
- Yeah, they believed it was--
she was telling the truth about me.
- But Charlene Johnson, for some reason...
you know, making something up
and then going through a trial and all that--
it just doesn't fit.
And--it's hard. Testifying's hard.
- Mm-hmm. - It's a lot easier
to maintain the truth than it is to lie.
I believe Charlene.
- Your opinion has not changed at all?
- No, ma'am.
- I was raised, man-- "don't lie, period."
In the county jail, when I first got locked up,
my lawyer, he said, "Man, they offered you--
they said that they'd give you anything but a dismissal."
I said, "Don't talk to me about no pleas or nothing."
- Mm-hmm. - You know, I've been offered
time served a couple times before--
- So, they're willing to give you time served,
let you get out of here, but they want to keep
the conviction on your record.
- That's what it is.
- And you said no.
- Yeah, and that's what I'm gonna keep saying.
I just can't take something for something I didn't do.
I ain't no convict. I ain't no inmate.
I'm Montoyae Dontae Sharpe, an innocent man in prison.
I'm not taking no pleas,
and I'm gonna fight it till the day I die.
- Dontae Sharpe has been
in prison for over 20 years
for shooting and killing a man
in an apparent drug deal gone bad.
He has spent more than half of his life behind bars
and has always maintained his innocence.
Loni, I just left Dontae,
and I gotta say...
- My feeling is Dontae is innocent.
- Really? - The way he talks
about not taking a plea bargain,
not pleading to something that he didn't do--
no matter what.
And he's had plenty of opportunity to come home,
but he won't until he comes home a free and innocent man.
And that speaks volumes.
Clark Everett held Dontae Sharpe responsible
for this group of girls coming to attack Charlene Johnson,
and he said that showed him
what type of person Dontae Sharpe was.
- The prosecutor has his opinion
about Dontae's character--
and from what happened to Charlene, I get it.
It raises some questions for me too.
Charlene's been pretty tough to connect with,
so we're gonna go speak to Dontae's family
to hear their side of the story.
"Welcome home, Dontae." - Wow."
- I like that. - Yeah.
- This is like my superhero being taken from me,
you know what I'm saying?
Like, my brother was my superhero.
- He was our--he was our male role model.
- Man in the house, yeah. - You know what I mean?
- He taught us a lot.
- Was it common, though, for a young black man out here
to pick up drug dealing?
Yeah. - That's the main--
- It's all you got over here.
- It's easier to get drugs
than a job around here. - Yeah.
- That's just how it is. We never needed no more
after he did. - You ever go out there
with your bro? - No.
"Go back home" -- that's his favorite line.
"You don't need to see this." You don't.
He didn't want us around none of that.
- What's it like to see him in there?
- I'm not in there with him... physically.
I'm out here and battling for him--for him out here.
It's just as tough as being in there with him.
- 34 years old and I'm still crying
over my brother. - What makes you cry about it?
- I don't want to say it, but I got to:
I might not never get to see him again like I want to.
- I mean, but come on.
The streets ain't never talked sense.
- People would always tell us, "Man, your brother didn't
do it," but no one would come forth
and say nothing-- I guess 'cause they was worried
about the backlash from it.
You know, officials and police officers--
they're figuring they're gonna put themselves in jeopardy
trying to come forth for Dontae.
- Back at the jury trial-- the very first trial--
this star prosecution witness was Charlene, this young girl.
Did you know who she was before?
- Yeah, yeah. - She went to school with us.
- Like, we knew her.
- And I can remember the day when Charlene recanted--
to my sister, Sharon.
She called me, she says, "Charlene is saying
"that she lied on Dontae
and that she wanted to talk to you."
And I said, "No, she don't need to talk to me.
She needs to go talk to his attorney."
- Any chance you have a phone number on Charlene?
- Yeah. - Think we can
give her a call while we're all sitting here?
- We can try.
We're sorry, you have reached a number
that has been disconnected or is no longer in service.
- So, Charlene has disconnected her number.
She hasn't spoken much in public since she recanted.
I really want to know what she has to say today.
I mean, did she lie about Dontae,
or did she say she lied 'cause she was afraid
about retaliation?
It's important that we track her down.
A lot of this case is based on eyewitnesses
whose stories have changed,
and if we want to get to the truth,
we need to focus on the facts,
and that starts at the crime scene.
- I'm really excited and kind of surprised, honestly--
that we're gonna be able to talk to
the investigating officer on this case--
especially that it's under
such scrutiny right now, right? So many people are looking at it
and saying, "Hey, there's something wrong
with this." - Right.
We're gonna be meeting with Carolyn Melvin,
who is the lead investigator in this case.
- After Dontae Sharpe was convicted,
Carolyn Melvin eventually left the police department
and became a private investigator
and actually ended up being hired by the Sharpe family
and reinvestigating the case.
And at this point, she believes
that Dontae Sharpe is not the killer.
- This is it. - Mm-hmm.
- I wonder if it still looks the same
after 22 years here.
- I mean, in the '90s,
this neighborhood was in an area
where this was highly concentrated with young boys
standing on the streets.
If you didn't live over here, you did not come through here.
- Right. - Because you will be robbed.
The only reason why anyone will come through here
would be to purchase drugs. - Right.
- I was assigned the case that night.
I came out to the crime scene.
When I got here, the truck was just at rest
on the curb. - Right.
- And so, it hit this stop sign...
then went in here.
So, this is the resting area of the vehicle.
- So we still don't really know for sure
where the shooting occurred. - No.
- Was the gun ever found? - No.
All we can go by is the witnesses' statements.
So, according to this young girl--Charlene--
George Radcliffe was outside the vehicle.
- Which means... - And there's no evidence
to support that. - There would've been blood
on the floor, too. - Yes.
- If this man was shot outside. - Blood is only
on that seat and on that coat.
- Would George Radcliffe have gotten out
of his truck on that corner? - No.
That would've his death sentence immediately.
No white male is gonna come in an area
that concentrated with drugs
and try to buy drugs outside their vehicle.
- Okay. - That's not how you buy drugs
in these areas. It's quick--in, out.
I feel that he was shot and tried to drive off.
And he passed out before-- - That's what it sounds like.
- Yes. - It sounds like an erratic
last attempt to get away. - Yes.
- But that's not what the 13-year-old witness,
Charlene, said happened.
- So, Charlene's statement places her down there.
Can you show us... - Yes.
- Just how far away that was?
What about all these street-- I mean,
there's a lot of street lights here now.
- During that time, the community--
the guys that hung on the street--
would knock the lights out.
So, it would've been dark in this area.
- She says she actually heard words, right?
- Yes, she says she heard the words--
everything that transacted.
So, now we're at the place where Charlene actually says,
"I'm at the stop sign. I'm looking down the street.
"I see Dontae Sharpe and Mark Joyner.
"White guy gets out of the car,
"he wants some drugs cheap,
"and Dontae is mad. He pulls out a gun,
"he shoots him in the arm,
"then drags him, puts him in the car.
He ends up at the resting spot."
She sees all of that and hears all that conversation
with the lighting being minimal.
- This doesn't make sense to me. - Not at all.
- So, there was another witness out here,
named Beatrice. - Yes.
- What's her account? - Mm, to tell you the truth,
I... her account was never written down.
- What? - No.
Another officer named Ricky Best was assigned to assist me.
Detective Best took her account. I never saw it in writing.
According to Detective Best,
she witnessed Dontae Sharpe being the shooter.
I was never given, or privy to, any information
about the details as far as where she was coming from,
where she was going. - Okay.
- Only to the fact that she saw Dontae Sharpe kill him.
This evident don't make sense-- not even to me.
I was initially assigned to the case,
and based on my workload, I needed some assistance.
- Mm-hmm. - And in Dontae's case,
Detective Ricky Best was assigned with me.
- Right. - The initial interview
with Charlene--it appeared to me that it was a normal interview.
I think the things that occur after that
led to my suspicion-- it's when she started
calling him "Daddy Best" or "Daddy Ricky."
And I didn't understand why he's always giving her stuff,
like he's really her daddy.
And then, out of nowhere, here comes Beatrice Stokes.
- There was never anything... written.
Is that the--I mean...
- That's not policy nor procedure.
- How can you do a murder case as a detective
and not write anything down? You have a witness
who gave you a statement, and you never write it down?
- How do you get it past the DA's office
and get it to court? - Right! Right.
Because, what's the DA reading?
- In my findings, Dontae Sharpe did not commit
this crime. When you read this case,
there's no way in the world he should've been charged.
There was no way in the world, after Charlene recanted,
that he should still be there.
She was good enough to convict him,
but she's not good enough to free him?
- Free... - Dontae Sharpe!
female reporter: Efforts continue today to push
for the freedom of a Pitt County man
incarcerated for a murder back in the '90s.
Dontae Sharpe has always maintained his innocence
in the case. Both the governor's office
and the attorney general's office say
they are reviewing the case; neither is committing
to either side of it.
- If there is something out there
that points to Dontae Sharpe's innocence,
now's the time that that could matter.
Dontae Sharpe's current defense attorney
is Theresa Newman.
We want to meet with her and find out the status
of these petitions on Dontae's behalf.
- With Dontae's case, I knew that there was this
procedural mountain that we'd have to climb.
But we don't care.
If this is an innocent man, we will find a way.
Why did you pick his case? - Right.
- Out of all of the cases-- I'm sure you see a lot.
- In this case, every time we went to the next level,
we discovered truly remarkable evidence
that Dontae was factually innocent.
There was no scientific evidence,
no forensic evidence. There were two witnesses,
one of whom was this young girl who--
by the time we had the case, she had recanted.
- Hm. - So, tell us:
where does Dontae Sharpe's case stand right now?
- Well, I'm talking to the attorney general's office,
talking to the governor's office,
the district attorney's office...
We have developed a really compelling case
for proving Dontae's innocence, and we're just hoping
that it will result in his release very soon.
- Charlene says that she sees two people--
Dontae Sharpe and the co-defendant, Mark Joyner--
get into this confrontation
with the victim, George Radcliffe.
Gonna go see Mark Joyner.
- Yeah, Dontae's co-defendant, who actually took a plea...
versus, you know, going all the way like Dontae did.
- Right. Mark got to plead
to a much lesser charge of accessory after the fact.
- Mark ended up receiving a sentence
that got him out in less than a year,
but he's back in prison for an unrelated crime.
I wanna talk to him and get his side of the story.
- Because he took the plea, does that make you feel...
one way or another about him? - It doesn't,
as far as guilty or innocent... - Mm-hmm.
- And that's just simply because I took the plea
with my case. - Yeah.
- And...
you know, I was under so much pressure--
from the DA, pressure from my lawyer,
and telling me that this was the best opportunity for me,
that I had to take this deal. - Mm-hmm.
- That if I didn't take this deal,
it was life in prison.
Well, that thought of facing 41 years to life,
and potentially getting it if you try
and fight for your freedom... - Mm-hmm.
- I couldn't understand that at the age of 17.
All I could understand was, "I wanna go home."
- Right. - You know?
- I wonder what Mark Joyner's reasons are
for pleading guilty.
Well, we know you were very close to Dontae Sharpe.
- Yeah. - Back in 1994.
That's a ways back. - Way back when.
- Long time--long time. - Right? Yeah.
You and Dontae sold crack. - Crack.
- Were y'all known to be... the squad
of the whole neighborhood? - Yeah, we--
- So it wasn't like y'all ran the block.
and the police hated y'all because y'all ran it.
Banks and Coombs: Mm-hmm.
- Charlene, the other witness...
why do you think she would've pointed at Dontae and you?
- Like she had a crush on you?
- Ah.
- So, you feel like, because of the crush she had--
and she couldn't have you-- so she decided to...
lie about you committing a murder?
- So, how'd you feel about taking that--the plea?
Banks and Coombs: Mm-hmm.
- So, you saw Dontae get life, and that was a wrap for you.
- Yeah, I'm-- - "I'm not gonna play
with that." - No.
I'm not--no, I'm not...
- You know, it's hard to meet a person
who claims that they didn't commit a crime,
but felt forced into taking a plea bargain.
I sat at that same table,
making that same decision.
It hits home tremendously.
- You okay? - Mm-hmm, I'm fine.
- I can see why Brian can relate to Mark's situation.
But Mark is the co-defendant.
He's a friend of Dontae Sharpe's.
He's a convicted felon.
So, we have to take his version with a grain of salt.
- We're gonna go meet with Dontae's original attorney,
Cherry Stokes. I want to talk to him
about his game plan when approaching this case
and proving Dontae's innocence.
I'd like to know were there any other suspects,
and did he even believe Dontae was innocent?
What's your usual take on a client
that comes into your office,
and they're adamant that they're not gonna take
any form of a plea bargain?
Does that, in your heart, make you feel that
that person may be innocent?
- No.
- You've had-- - I've been a lawyer
long enough to know that
there are a lot of guilty people who say,
"I'm innocent. I won't take a plea..."
- Mm-hmm. - "For nothing."
And then you get down to the short rows,
and they say, "Well, maybe I might be guilty, let's see
what you can work out." - Right, but in this case,
Dontae never took a plea. - He--no, he never--
- Up until this day, he still hasn't taken a plea.
- He said, "I am not guilty. I want to go to trial."
- So, were there any other potential suspects in this case?
- The other suspect would've been
Tracy Highsmith's boyfriend.
- Tell me about her and her testimony.
- Tracy Highsmith...
showed up one day during the trial.
And all she told me and testified to was
that that night, he had come in...
- The night of the murder? - The night of the murder.
- Okay. - And her boyfriend, he had said
he had shot somebody.
And all he had told her was that, "I killed that man,
"and I don't wanna spend the rest of my life in jail.
"I'll commit suicide before I get arrested
and go to jail." - Okay.
- And he did.
He committed suicide within three weeks
after making that statement.
- Did he describe for her who he shot, though?
- He just said "a white man in the hood."
- Right. - In the black section
of Greenville. - So, that's--
that sounds to me like that was pretty pinpointed.
The night of the murder he said, "I shot a white man
in that area." I don't know how many other
white men were being shot down there, so...
- Probably none. - Yeah.
- Now, her testimony about her boyfriend committing
the murder and telling her about it
was not allowed in front of the jury.
- Why not?
- The only way I tried that you could use it
in North Carolina would be a dying declaration.
- Mm-hmm. - And it did not fit
the criteria of a dying declaration,
so the judge said, "Well, I'm not gonna let
the jury hear that."
- Do you think if the jury could've heard
about this other... this confession,
do you think that might have changed their--
- It might have, because here's evidence,
showing that, well, this man said, "I did it."
It would've given me a lot more argument to the jury.
- Mm-hmm. - And my job is to show
the jury everything-- the whole picture.
- Mm-hmm. - And say, "You know,
might he not have done it?" - Yeah.
- "Might it have been somebody else?
"Can you say, beyond a reasonable doubt,
that he is the man that pulled the trigger?"
- Hearing that there is this alternative suspect
makes you sit up and say, "Who is this person?
How do we know about this person?"
- Dontae's already in trial.
All the evidence has been stacked up against him,
and in this moment, a woman by the name
of Tracy Highsmith, comes into court
with a new claim that her boyfriend,
Damien Smith, was the true killer
of George Radcliffe.
The judge heard this information,
but didn't allow it into court.
He claimed it was hearsay.
- The judge says, "Hearsay can't come in,
"because no one can ask him questions
about all of those details," 'cause it wasn't Damien Smith
in court. It was Tracy.
Because Damien committed suicide.
There is somebody that Damien Smith did know
that people say was at the crime scene.
In fact, he puts himself at the crime scene
a couple hours before this all goes down.
- Who's that? - Marciana.
His real name's Wilbur Mercer, but he goes by Marciana.
Marciana-- you will not believe this.
He actually goes up-- at the crime scene,
when the police are there-- and I have to read you this,
because this is crazy. "He asked if he could look
"inside the truck, in reference to a green army jacket.
"Marciana stated that the jacket belonged to him.
"Marciana stated that he had been with the victim
"approximately two hours earlier,
"in an attempt to help the victim
"locate some power cocaine.
"A marked patrol car passed through the area,
"causing the victim to leave,
and Marciana didn't see him again."
- So, they arrive together, he leaves,
and when he returns back,
George Radcliffe is in his truck, dead.
- Right. So, then he sees the truck
and he goes up to the police officer,
despite all the crime-scene tape...
- Right. - And says, "Hey,
"yeah, I was trying to
"help him buy cocaine,
but I really want my jacket."
And here's the thing:
Marciana and Damien Smith...
their fathers were like brothers.
- And these guys know each other.
- And that gives Damien Smith the connection...
- Right. - To be there.
Remember, Charlene said two people ran away.
She said it was Dontae Sharpe and Mark Joyner.
- Mm-hmm. - What if there were two people.
- Mm. - But they were Damien Smith
and Marciana? - Marciana.
- So, hearing about the Damien Smith story,
it sounds like there's another possible suspect.
- The question is, did anyone actually see
Damien Smith commit the crime?
Sarah Sharpe, Dontae's mom, apparently knows
of another alleged witness to the murder,
and she's bringing this witness to meet us.
All of the sudden Candice is saying she saw the whole thing?
And how much does it have to do with the fact that Sarah,
Dontae's mother, is coming with her?
I mean, she's... - That's what I'm saying.
- Delivering her, essentially... - Right.
- Here, to talk to us. - Right.
Well, look, when they show up, don't jump out
with all of these notebooks.
- And all the casework. - "Keep the attorney
in the car" is what you're saying?
- Yeah, let's just get out and talk to them.
You think this is her here?
- Yeah.
Fantastic.
- How you feeling? - You made it.
- Scared. - Scared of what?
- 'Cause I done been through all of this before.
- Okay. - You know, I told them.
And--and didn't nobody believe me.
- Who is "they"? The police or the DA's office?
- The investigators. - Investigators.
- If they would've listened to me
in the first place, it wouldn't be all of this
right here. - Right.
What was it--initially, what'd you tell them?
- Dontae didn't kill Radcliffe.
- Did you ever see the crime scene
when they had the yellow tape up
and it was all wild out here?
Did you ever see that? - I was out.
I was--I seen what happened.
- Can you walk me through it, and, like,
show me what happened? - Show us where you were.
- When the shots went off,
I seen a person with a gun in their hand.
- Was that Damien? Did he have a gun that night?
- It was Marciana.
He looked me in my face. He saw me.
And when I seen him, he had a gun in his hand.
- On the-- - Did you actually see
the flash from the gun? - Yeah.
- Remember, you in the hood. - Right.
- And in the hood is one of the places
where they don't really have too many street lights.
- Uh-huh. - So, anything goes down...
- It'll light up. - It's gonna light up.
- So, the truck is facing this way.
- Mm-hmm. - The victim's sitting here
in the driver's seat. - Marciana was on
the passenger side of the car-- of the truck.
- Okay, so let's say-- let's say this is Marciana.
- Mm-hmm. - I'm the victim.
I'm sitting in the driver's seat.
- Okay. - So, is he sitting
in the passenger's seat, or is he outside?
- He's, like, inside, out. - So, kind of getting in, out?
- Uh-huh, uh-huh. - Okay.
- Uh-huh. - And I'm still sitting here.
- Uh-huh. - And then what do you see?
- Uh-huh. Then, when we hear--
I heard the shots go off. - Mm-hmm.
- And, you know, that's when I peeped
the shots was going off. - Okay.
Where's Marciana? - They still standing
at the truck. - And there's nobody
on this side, on the driver's side?
They're all on the passenger side?
- Uh-huh, uh-huh. And he walked around.
And that's when they pushed the car.
- But who did you say was helping Marciana push it?
- Damien. He's supposed to be
Marciana's godson. - Okay.
- Listen to me-- and you record this good.
I'm about to catch hell. I'm just gonna let y'all know.
- So, why are you doing this?
- He been in there for 20-something years.
That's a long time to be in prison.
- I'm so confused. I mean, Candice says
that Dontae wasn't the shooter? - Yeah.
- But she doesn't say that Mark Joyner was the shooter.
- Right. - She doesn't say
Damien Smith was the shooter.
She said it was Marciana. - Yeah.
- What did she see that everybody else didn't see?
- Right.
There are no records
that Candice ever told
this story to police.
And Candice is the first one who actually says
Marciana was the one who shot the victim.
But--I don't know if you noticed--
when we were acting it out there, you know...
- Yeah. - And I was being the victim,
George Radcliffe... - Right.
- And you were being Marciana. - Right.
- And was saying, "Okay, show me where the car was facing."
- Yeah, I remember that. - She had the victim sitting
in the car in the driver's seat, and then I said,
"Okay, where is the shooter? Where's Marciana?"
"Was anybody on the driver's side?"
"No." She was very clear.
I was checking to see if she would put anybody
on the driver's side.
She didn't, and that's a problem.
Let me show you why.
Here are the autopsy diagrams.
The bullet that he's shot with
goes in his left arm...
- Okay. - Through his body,
and out the right side.
So, the driver's sitting here, she's saying the shooter was
on that side... - The passenger side.
- And shot him through the car.
That would put the bullet going this way.
- The other way. - Not what happened.
- That didn't dawn on me until you're saying that,
right now... - Yeah.
- That she put the shooter... - On the wrong side.
- On the wrong side of the car. - On the wrong side.
Well, I'm curious to see-- with the prosecution--
what they're seeing. I mean, do they still feel
very strongly in what Charlene told them,
and what they put on during the trial?
Or if they're looking at these other witnesses,
including Candice, and saying, "You know what?
There's something wrong with this case."
- Yeah... yeah.
- ...meeting me. - Appreciate it.
- Great to meet you. - You too.
I'm Kimberly Robb. I'm the elected DA, now,
for Pitt County. I was approached
by Dontae's attorney, Theresa Newman,
to ask if I would give it a second look.
And I agreed to do that.
- You know, I've heard, "Oh, Candice Johnson knows
what happened." Well, if Candice Johnson knew
what happened that night and knew who did this
or who didn't do this, then beating up Charlene
wasn't the thing to do.
Once Dontae Sharpe was arrested, that night,
five girls physically assaulted Charlene,
and Candice was one of the people that was involved.
- And so, for you to follow through
on prosecuting those girls, you were showing,
"Hey, we are gonna stand by our witnesses."
- I mean, that's-- you have to do that.
You have to do that. I mean, think about it:
Candice Johnson, she's had 22 years,
and as far as I know, she's never given a statement...
until the last year.
She said she saw Wilbur Mercer get out of the passenger side
and run away.
- Wilbur Mercer, who goes by Marciana--
we checked his alibis. We were able to locate
his estranged wife, who-- they're not together anymore,
haven't been together for many, many years.
She absolutely alibis him,
and then his step-daughter or daughter also alibis him.
- How often is a spouse's alibi useful?
- I think, in this case, it's important
because they're not together. - Mm-hmm.
They're still technically married,
but they have not lived together in over 14 years.
- Mm. - She absolutely gives him
an alibi, and she really has no reason to.
- Marciana--or Wilbur Mercer's statement is
he ripped this man off, went home and told his wife,
"I ripped this man off." - Well, and usually, too,
if you've just killed somebody you don't go back
to the crime scene and say, "Hey, by the way,
can I get my jacket that's next to the dead body there?"
- When the police are already there.
That's right. - Yeah.
- I wanted to ask,
how reliable is the testimony
or statement of a witness
who is known to be a drug addict?
- I assume you're speaking of Ms. Stokes?
- Yes. - The times I've spoken
with her, she's been very sober and very clear-minded.
And she's firmly standing by what she saw
and what she told the police that night.
- Hm. - Another point that's come up
in the different motions is the polygraph
that Charlene took. It came out that, actually,
it was an "inconclusive" result on that polygraph.
Did that change your opinion on her credibility?
- No. If it'd been a negative five,
or something, you would be a little more concerned.
- What do you mean by the negative five number?
- The polygraph scale back then was a--
a negative six was deemed to be "deceptive,"
and a positive three was deemed to be "no deception."
- What was her actual number?
- It was a positive one. - Okay.
- Which is a high inconclusive. - Mm-hmm.
When I was reading the files in this,
I read that Dontae took a polygraph in this case.
What were the results?
- It was a negative nine.
- And you just told us that a negative six is...
- At that time. - Is considered to be a fail.
And he was a negative nine. - So, negative nine
is super-fail. - Super-fail.
- It says...
"deception indicated." - What was the questions
they'd ask? - Yeah.
- "Did you shoot George Radcliffe?"
- And his answer? - "No."
"Did you participate in any way in the shooting
of George Radcliffe?" He answered no.
"Do you know for sure who shot George Radcliffe?"
He answered no. - He didn't pass any
of those answers. - I'm not a polygraph scorer,
but the total score is a negative nine.
- Do you convict somebody on a polygraph?
No, you don't do that. But it certainly is--
it's something to be considered. - Mm-hmm.
- Negative nine?
- There's a few things in this case that make me feel
that Dontae didn't commit this crime.
Number one, you have two eyewitnesses,
and neither one of their stories are credible.
Number two, this man had plenty of opportunities
to take a deal, and he flat-out said,
"No, I'm innocent. I'm not taking a deal.
"I'm going all the way to the box,
and I'm being judged by a jury of my peers."
But I gotta tell you, after talking
to the prosecutor in this case...
there's a whole nother side to this
that makes me feel... that Dontae could've committed
this crime. - Yeah, it's really interesting
to hear it from the prosecutor's point of view,
and hear what made him so confident in this case.
- And then there's the polygraph test.
- Yeah. - I mean, we sit there
and listen to Clark Everett say
that a negative six is a bad test.
Dontae got a negative nine. - It's deceptive.
That shows deception.
And, you know, I saw your face.
When that came up... - Yeah.
- It was like all the air just went out of you.
- Look, I'm not saying Dontae is guilty.
What I am saying is there's a lot here
that makes me think. - Mm-hmm.
You know? And it's not all in his favor.
- I think that it would be really helpful
to talk to Dontae.
- How would you describe your experience
when you took that test?
- When Ricky Best-- our lead investigator--
and the other officer came to get me,
I'm like, "What are you doing here?"
- Because he's the one, when you were arrested,
that talked to you, right?
- Him and Carolyn was the one that questioned me.
- Okay. - So, automatic,
I'm already feeling like I don't trust him.
So, we're riding in the car, and they're questioning
about what I heard, or have I heard anything.
"You're saying you're innocent. Well, who did it?"
"I don't know." I got angry.
- Mm. - So, you're sitting there,
and you're boiling, and you're strapped up
to a polygraph examiner. - I tried and calm down,
I did, but we still had some questioning.
- Yeah. - After it was over,
the man that gave me the polygraph said,
"The lie detector test said you didn't do it."
That's what he told me. He said,
"But the questions I asked you about,
"'Do you know anything about it?'
That's where it looked like you're lying, there."
That's what he said to me. - Do you know who did it?
- Mm-mm. - Before you took the polygraph,
you were hearing other names too, right?
You said... - Mm-hmm, all kinds of names.
I was just hearing all these names,
'cause a lot of people that hang on that block back then,
it was a whole bunch of people from everywhere.
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
- You know? I ain't gonna just throw
nobody else under the bus.. - For sure.
- Just to--I mean, they might even lock up
another innocent man.
- So, you could be walking out right now...
- Yeah. - If you'd take the deal.
- Yeah. I'm just standing by the truth.
That's it. And it's bigger than me too,
you know? I got grandkids
and things like that. So I can't tell no grandkids,
"If you ever get in a situation and you know you didn't do it,"
or whatever--tell 'em to stand, and then I ain't stand.
- Right. - Mm-hmm.
- You know, I don't believe
in that "do as I say, not as I do."
- I gotta say, I sat in that same situation,
and I remember taking that deal.
I completely understand...
the decision that you made,
but I think the decision that you made
is beyond what the average person would
be willing to do to prove their innocence.
I cannot name one person other than Dontae Sharpe--
is willing to do whatever he has to do
to prove his innocence.
It's just a different type of hardheadedness
that I've never seen before. - Yeah.
- That a person would sit in jail
for so many years... - Yeah.
- To prove a point!
A guilty person would've jumped on a deal
a long time ago. I just don't see the point
in someone who's guilty... to want to stay in there
to prove a point that doesn't exist.
- Yeah. I think there are a lot of cases
like this out there, but I have to tell you,
after meeting Dontae...
- I don't think there's a lot of Dontaes out there.
Dontae says that he was upset and agitated
when he took the polygraph test,
because he was actually driven to that test
by Ricky Best, who was an investigator
in the murder case.
He says that he believes
that influenced his ability
to be able to perform in the test.
I really need an impartial assessment
of this polygraph examination.
So, we're going to Skype with a polygraph expert
and get his assessment.
- There's things I don't know about that exam.
I don't know if he was interrogated all morning--
you know, I would hope not-- and then tested.
You'd hope everybody followed the correct procedures.
We just know his charge was "deceptive."
So, once you have one relevant question--
comes out to deceptive, the test is deceptive.
You cannot pass one question and fail another.
- Oh.
Okay, so let me just make sure.
He could answer truthfully to the question
"Did you shoot this person?" "No"--that could be true.
"Did you participate in any way in this shooting?"
"No" --that could be true.
"Do you know for sure who shot this person?"
"No" --that's a lie,
and you get a deceptive on this test.
- Then he would be told he's deceptive.
The test is over.
Even though he did not shoot that person,
if he knows who did it and he's not willing
to release that information, and he lies to it,
he failed that test. Yes ma'am.
- Okay. - If 99% of the truth
is a lot... you have to be 100% honest
on those relevant questions.
- Okay, that's fascinating.
At this point, I just have more questions than answers.
We've kind of wiped out the polygraph.
I don't that helps one way or the other.
I have questions about how the investigation was handled.
We've tried to meet with Ricky Best,
and he hasn't agreed to talk with us yet.
We really need to speak to him.
- There are two key witnesses in this case,
one of them being Charlene Johnson.
I mean, we've reached out multiple times to talk to her,
but I don't know if she wants to speak to us.
We're gonna hit the streets
and go and look for the other witness,
Beatrice Stokes.
But it's gonna be tough to locate her.
She's a known drug addict. She could be anywhere.
I'm trying to put myself in the shoes of Beatrice.
- Okay. - Where would I be?
Where would I frequent? Where would I go?
- It's definitely going to be a challenge
to find Beatrice. I mean, she's on the streets
in the same position she was 20-plus years ago.
- Our first stop is a local homeless shelter.
- She was a resident here at one point in time,
but she is no longer here.
- And just because we find Beatrice
doesn't mean she's going to be willing to talk to us.
- She comes here a lot.
In fact, I thought I saw her here today.
- She could be nervous. She could be standoffish.
She may not want to have anything to do
with talking about Dontae Sharpe.
You know where we'd be able to find her?
- No?
That ain't Beatrice right there, is it?
- Is that Beatrice? Can anybody--
does anybody see her?
- Hey, miss. You got a second to speak to us?
What's your name? - Chastity.
- Have you seen this lady before?
- Oh, yeah. - Yeah.
- I seen her last night. - Yeah.
- Last night? - Do you know where we'd
probably be able to catch her?
- Mm-mm. - Nah.
It looked just like her.
- Yeah.
- I swear it looked just like her.
- And then... she'd actually seen her.
- Last night. - Last night.
- Last night! - Right around here.
- The thing is, is where? At this point,
nobody's gonna point us in the exact direction
of where she is.
So, if we don't find her... - Yeah.
If we don't find her, we have to step back
and look at the case and say, "She was always
"the secondary witness.
"But, as far as the key to the prosecution case,
that was really Charlene."
- So, we finally made contact with Charlene.
I'm on my way to go meet her.
Nobody with me, no film crew.
I don't wanna ask her anything specifically about the case
at this point.
But I am hoping to convince her
to come speak with me and Loni
at a later date. I'm hoping that,
by sharing my story with her,
and how someone's lies put me behind bars,
just maybe, that may give her the courage
to come forward and tell the truth
about what really happened.
Free Dontae Sharpe! Free Dontae Sharpe!
- I'm the lawyer. I'm Theresa Newman,
and we're running out of time. - That's...
- But we wanna get action now, so that's what I'm committed to.
- We said the governor, the attorney general--
it doesn't matter, everybody needs to be on board
because this case can open up
the issue of injustice in this state.
female reporter: The NAACP says that the case
is a textbook wrongful conviction
and says that the prosecution's key witness
recanted her testimony
within two months of the trial.
- That's essentially the case,
is this eyewitness testimony.
At this point, it's critical
that we talk to these witnesses,
face-to-face.
Brian's speaking with Charlene Johnson.
He's hoping that by sharing his story,
he can convince her to meet with us on camera,
and talk about her testimony and her recantation.
Charlene's nervous about
talking about this case publicly.
But what she needs to know is that we're not taking sides.
We're really trying to find
what the truth is in this case.
And we need to hear her side of the story.
- How was your day? - Good.
- What's going on?
- Man, just got back from meeting with Charlene, finally.
After all the ignored calls-- she even told me,
to my face, "I blocked your number.
I blocked everybody's number." And she wasn't--
she said, "It wasn't because I didn't wanna talk
"to you guys, it was just simply because
I know what I have at stake by talking to you."
- Okay. - So, it was really just
her fear of what... - All these years later?
- She feels like there could be some serious retaliation.
- Does she feel--is it-- is she talking about the police,
or is she talking about Dontae's family?
- You know--right. - Media? I mean...
It could be--yeah. - Well, I'll tell you this.
Her attorney, Buddy, cut me off,
and cut her off, and said,
"Look, I'll just--you know,
maybe I can answer some of this."
And he began to talk about Ricky Best.
- The detective. - The detective.
Not in a negative way, as in to, like--
"This is the reason why she's afraid,"
by just--but just by mentioning his name
as part of the concern... - Hmm.
- To me, tells me that he's the concern.
- Hmm--well, Ricky Best had a huge influence
on her, we know, at the time of the trial.
- Right. - I mean, he was the one
that got her statement. - Mm-hmm.
- Got her in to testify. - Mm-hmm.
- They had a very close relationship, so...
- Yeah. - It would be fascinating
to have her talk about all this. Is she willing to talk
about what happened back then? - She is definitely willing
to talk about it. Her and her attorney agree
that they both will meet with us.
- Okay. - Hopefully in the near future.
- Great.
I know we've been working on this for--
you've been working on this
for days, weeks, to get her in,
so... we really-- we've gotta be able
to talk to her to get the full picture.
- Yeah.
I really hope we get a chance to speak to Charlene,
but I'm also very eager to talk to Ricky Best.
We got a meeting with him, so I'm really interested
in hearing what he has to say about this case.
- What was his relationship with Charlene?
Why was it so close?
Why was she calling him "Daddy Best"?
I want to see if he has a legitimate explanation
for why he would be so connected to this young witness.
Hello, how are you? - Fine, thanks.
- I'm Loni Coombs. - Ricky Best.
- Nice to meet you. - Brian Banks.
- Ricky Best. - Nice to meet you.
- You were not the first detective on the case, correct?
- I was not. - Who was that?
- Detective Carolyn Melvin-- you know, this has been
22 or 23 years, so... - Mm-hmm.
- My recollection is
I was working another murder case.
- Okay. - And they pulled me
off of that one to assist Detective Melvin.
Everybody else was tied up, so they pull me.
- So, you stepped in. - They pull me in
and assign me.
- And during that time, do you remember
coming up with any witnesses
or talking to anyone that had any information?
- I don't remember anything about witnesses
until an officer came in one morning
and said a young black female had come up to him
and was talking to him, and that she told him
she has some information in that murder case.
- What was the name of that witness?
- Charlene Johnson. - Okay.
- And she was scared to death-- very, very distraught...
- Mm-hmm. - Afraid.
- So, then she ended up talking to you.
- Yes. - And writing a statement?
- Yes. - Now, did she write
this statement by herself,
or did someone help her write it?
- She--best I remember, she wrote it herself.
- After your initial meeting with Charlene,
did you guys remain in contact and build somewhat
of a--a friendship from that initial meeting?
- We interviewed her that afternoon.
That night is when those girls go over there,
kick her door down, and beat her severely.
- Mm-hmm. - So, yes, I mean...
I felt terribly sorry for the young lady,
'cause, I mean, she was... you know, a victim.
- Yeah. - Were there any other things
that you did for her, as far as, you know,
helping her with reward money or clothes?
- As it says in the report and in the transcript,
Detective Melvin and myself went to see her one day
and they were sitting on the porch.
And we asked them, "What's going on?"
And they said, "Well, we don't have any utilities."
- Mm-hmm. - And so I felt bad, so I talked
to the victim witness coordinator.
- Mm-hmm. - And she said, "Well, you know,
why don't you see if Crime Stoppers will help?"
And I think she got $500, I believe.
- Did she call you "Daddy Best," I think?
- I don't remember that, no.
- You don't remember that?
- No, I don't.
- Besides Charlene,
you had another witness. - Yes.
- That you had brought to the case.
- Yes. - And that was--
- Beatrice Stokes, yes. - Yeah, okay.
So, in the trial transcript, when you testified,
you said you didn't write down any notes...
- Mm-hmm. - From your interview
with Beatrice. - Okay.
- You never made a report.
- If that's what the transcript says...
- Yeah. - That's what the truth is.
- Okay, so--and she's identifying Dontae...
- Yes. - And you never wrote down
what she told you? - If that's what it says--
that I did not... - Yeah.
- I did not, so... - And why would that be?
- I don't know.
- Does it surprise you that you have a murder case
where there's only two prosecution witnesses,
and one of them, there was no report with?
- I feel confident that Clark Everett had talked
to that witness prior to anything getting taken to court.
So, if he felt comfortable with it,
then that's the only reason I know
that he would've gone that route.
You know, everyone that we had talked to
said that Dontae is the one who committed the crime.
You deal with the evidence that's dealt to you,
and that's the only evidence that we had.
- I can just see the--the...
the tension of this case still surrounds a lot of people
that are involved. There are still
so many mixed emotions when it comes to this case.
- And I want you to understand where I stand.
All I did was assist in this case.
You only can deal with the cards that's dealt to you.
- Right. - And you play those cards.
And once it--if the jury says that he's guilty,
then that's all you can do. But I did my job.
That's all I did. - And you feel he's guilty?
- I can tell you what the evidence was.
- Mm-hmm. - And from the evidence
that was presented to us... - Yeah.
- Yes, sir, he was guilty.
I would not go to a court and get on the witness stand
and testify if I didn't think the man was guilty.
- Yeah. - If someone can show me
some evidence now that says he was not there,
he did not commit this crime, then--
first thing, I'd apologize to him for even being involved.
- Yeah. - And I'm a Christian man,
and I promise you, if I had some evidence myself
that he was not guilty, I'd be the first one
at Kim Robb's office to say,
"Hey, let's get this thing right."
If Dontae Sharpe did not commit this murder,
then he should be out this minute.
- Ricky best said that, "Look, if there's evidence
"that Dontae Sharpe is innocent of this crime,
he shouldn't be in prison. He should be out."
What I find interesting about that is
he's the investigator that cultivated the evidence
that put Dontae Sharpe in prison.
The most critical part of the prosecution testimony--
and actually, in my mind, the weakest--
is what Charlene actually says she saw at the crime scene.
Looking at the trial transcript,
one thing that really jumped out at me is that Charlene says that
"it just looked like they was scuffling,
"and all of a sudden, I just saw a spark--
a gun go off." - Mm-hmm.
- "All right, after the gun went off,
what did you see?" She says that he gets
into the truck with the body.
They had to essentially do a U-turn with the truck,
then jump up on the curb and crash the truck.
She is cross examined like,
"Well, then, where did Dontae sit?"
- Right. - And she said
he sat on top of the body, essentially.
- That just makes no sense to me.
I think it kind of seems like
Radcliffe was shot inside the car,
tried to escape... - Mm-hmm.
- And probably died on his way of his own escape.
- Yeah. - And the car veered over
into the backside of the yard. - Yeah.
- You fire off a shot--pow, middle of the night.
- Mm-hmm. - This would literally be
somewhat of a spectacle... - Right.
- For the whole neighborhood to watch a few guys take
this dead body... - Mm-hmm.
- In a--in a pickup truck... - Mm-hmm.
- And move it from one block to the next.
- Mm-hmm. - I think it's easy to say
that this witness is unreliable.
- Well, at the very least,
her statement doesn't make sense.
And remember, this statement is what
they arrested Dontae Sharpe on for murder--this.
That's it. That's all they had.
They arrested him three hours later.
- I still see Charlene's testimony
as essentially the crux of the prosecution case.
So, if what she said is not physically possible,
then what weight does her statement have?
We've managed to get a meeting with the medical examiner--
the state's witness in this case.
Hi, I'm Loni Coombs.
- Hi, I'm Mary Gilliland. - Nice to meet you.
- How are you doing? I'm Brian Banks.
- I wanna find out her assessment
of the physical evidence and how it matches up
with the original statement that Charlene Johnson gave.
You actually testified in the Dontae Sharpe trial.
- Yes. - So, could you tell us
about the injuries? - He's actually got
a through-and-through gunshot wound of the arm
and the chest, and a penetrating gunshot wound
of the right arm, with a bullet recovered.
- So, the bullet wounds that you saw
started with a hole into the outside of the left arm.
- Yes. - And then continued
all the way through his torso, and then lodged right here
on the outer side... - Outer side.
- Of his right arm? - Yes.
- Perhaps you can give us
an opinion on the statement from Charlene Johnson.
Brian, I'm gonna have you be George Radcliffe.
- Okay. - You're outside of the truck.
- Okay. - I pull out a gun.
Face-to-face, I fire the gun. - No.
- Okay, what is wrong with that scenario?
- The gunshot wound was in the wrong place.
It does not correspond well.
- When you say it doesn't correspond well,
what exactly do you mean? - I mean that I would like
to have had a face-to-face session
with the district attorney prior,
and I would say, "I'm gonna have to say
"it doesn't match. I don't see how
it could have happened this way."
- Mm-hmm. - But that...
didn't actually come up.
- Knowing now that Dontae Sharpe was convicted--
essentially based on that statement
from Charlene Johnson, how do you feel about that?
- That is...
Something that is not right.
- Hmm. - That's an outcome...
that shouldn't have happened.
Too much reliance was given to that testimony.
It may have sounded better at the time.
But it--physically, it doesn't match.
- The state's medical examiner, she's now saying
that the evidence that was put against Dontae,
that put him behind bars, was wrong.
- The gunshot wound doesn't fit.
Okay, so that's one strike against it being truthful.
But the story about moving the truck
and how it crashed after the victim was shot--
is that possible?
We don't know until we test it out.
- I agree with you about this spacing.
- With the rest of it. - And for the size...
- 'Cause that's... - Hello, hello!
- Hello. - I'm Loni Coombs.
- I'm Dr. Rolin Barrett. - Nice to meet you, Dr. Barrett.
- Brian Banks. - It's good to meet you, Brian.
- Nice to meet you, too. - Dr. Gilliland,
good to see you again. - Hey, doc.
- So, Dr. Barrett, what do you do?
- I'm a forensic engineer, and as part of my work
I'm an accident re-constructionist.
- So what have you done here today?
- We've reconstructed the scene of the crime--
the fence, the curb, the stop sign.
Everything's accurate as possible,
with the same type of truck-- exactly a match--
in order to re-create what is testified
by Charlene Johnson.
- Let's do this.
- We've placed the pickup at the same location
as testified by the witness.
The pickup passes over the curb,
through the fence, and lands in a position of rest,
as we've seen in the photographs.
We've arranged for some assistants
who will perform the stunt of replicating the crash
as Charlene Johnson testified.
We have our George Radcliffe,
we have our Dontae Sharpe, and we have our Mark Joyner.
They're the same height and weight
as the individuals involved.
- So Charlene describes
that Dontae shoots George,
and George goes down to the ground
by the truck, and at that point, Dontae's cohort,
Marc Joyner, comes in, and both of them together--
Dontae and Mark-- pick George Radcliffe up
and put him in the truck,
and he's sitting in
the driver's side seat.
- Mm-hmm. - We've always had a question
about whether the victim and someone else
could fit in that truck. - Yes, yeah.
- It's a pretty tight space, but the best way to find out
is to reconstruct it. - We want to use a mannequin
rather than live weight,
because live weight doesn't move like
someone who has no responsiveness.
- So, I'm gonna describe for you what Charlene described
that she saw, and that's what you need
to re-enact. Okay?
"Did they put him in the truck?"
"Like, halfway in the truck.
His feet were hanging out." "If they put the man
"who got killed on the driver's side,
how did they get in the truck to drive it?"
"The probably sat on him."
- Yeah, right. - Look at this, look at this.
Look at this.
He can't even get in there.
How are you gonna drive the car like that?
Watch out--back up. He can't even get
to gear to go up. - Then try and go forward.
- His body's in the way.
Okay...
He hits the curb right away. Boom.
- I don't think that
a simple U-turn is possible
with the curb as close as it is. - Mm-hmm.
- They'll actually have to do a three-point turn.
- Yup. That's curb, right there.
There's no way. - He has to back up.
- Yeah, you have to back up.
- He's going to complete this...
the body is interfering with moving
this transmission's gearshift.
- Look how much time this is taking--
shots fired, someone called the police,
police are already en route.
Wow.
It's not impossible, but it is difficult.
- Is it possible? It's possible.
- We had a question: could you even fit
the two people in there. - Yeah.
- Yeah, you can, but to see the effort...
- Yeah. - And the time that it took.
- To me, this just doesn't make sense,
and I'm sure why the prosecution decided
to go with this theory. - Is there any
logical explanation for Charlene's version?
- I don't know of any logical reason for the steps
that were described in this testimony.
- It didn't happen this way.
- What Charlene Johnson says doesn't appear to fit
the gunshot wound to his body,
and what seems logically possible
to get the truck from where it was
when the victim was shot, to where it ended up crashed.
So, I'm not seeing any real strong, solid evidence
from the prosecution at this point.
My real question is why she lied--
why she would take that risk,
why she's gonna point out this drug dealer
and say, "He's a murderer."
Did she have... issues that would cause her to lie?
- You know, with so many twists and turns in this case
and people pointing in different directions,
we really need to speak to Charlene about this case.
We got a meeting with her today.
I feel confident that if we can get her into a room,
then we can get the truth about what actually happened.
- Is that a chair for Charlene? That's perfect.
- Yeah, 5:30,
so any moment now, she should be here.
Hello?
- Hey, Brian. How you doing, man?
- What's up, Buddy? - Um...
you know, Charlene right now-- I mean, she's nervous.
- Oh, no. - Um...
Charlene's story is not one that is ever gonna
be able to be rushed... - Right.
- Because the system that just
abused her so much--
I can't rush her into this, okay?
Her fear has always been from the prosecution
or the law enforcement side of this.
And when you have somebody like that,
they're--they're damaged.
That's just the reality of it. - Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
- Okay? - I hear you loud and clear,
and I completely get what you're saying, you know,
and I definitely don't want to put pressure
on you or Charlene, because that's not
what this is about. I want her to be willing
to come and speak to me.
- I'm... I'm gonna call Charlene.
If we can make it happen,
I'll do that--all right, okay? - Okay. You the man.
- All right, man. - Thank you, brother.
- All right, thanks. Keep up the good work, man.
- Thank you. Peace. - All right, bye-bye.
- So, she's not coming.
- Unless he convinces her, right now,
to change her mind and come. - Yeah.
- I completely understand her fears,
but I also know there's a man behind bars,
and who's been there for the last 23 years.
- I mean, she's talked about her trial testimony,
but she's never told the whole story.
- Right. - Which he said she's ready
to tell now. - It's so important
that we speak to her. I mean...
- Yeah.
- She's what I consider one of our last pieces
to this entire puzzle that we've been trying
to put together.
- It's so important
that we speak to her. She's what I consider
one of our last pieces to this entire puzzle.
- Yeah.
- Oh, look. Hey.
- Good to see you. - Hi.
- This is Loni Coombs. - So nice to meet you, Charlene.
- How you doing, ma'am? - Come on, have a seat.
- Great to meet you.
- I just want to say thank you, before we even get started,
for coming to sit down and speak with us.
- Do you actually remember writing this statement?
- "I saw Dontae and a white male and Mark.
"Dontae was about to sell that white male a rock,
and then he pulled out a gun and shot him."
Oh, wow. Really?
- What surprises you the most, looking at this 23 years later?
- The whole damn thing. I mean, none of that happened.
I did not see the shooting. - At any point during this,
did you ever say, "I wasn't even there?"
- No, I didn't say that.
- Was there a reason why you never said it?
- Not for sure what was really--
what was going on. - Yeah.
- Still confused and didn't know.
- If you can take us back to 1994,
when this whole thing happened,
what was going on in your life at that time?
- Well, I was a 13-year-old,
14-year-old child. I was staying with my mother
and, at that time, her boyfriend.
My dad was not in my life. My granddaddy, he died,
so I was going through that as well.
My granddaddy was the one that stood up for me,
and after I lost him, I was alone again.
And in my household, I just didn't want to be there.
It--it was rough. I started smoking cigarettes
and was playing chicken with the cops.
- When you say you was playing chicken
with the cop cars, do you mean you was physically running
at cars, and then-- - Running in front of cars...
- Is that what you mean? - Then in and out of cars.
Yeah, they thought I was crazy--
something was wrong with me. Why would I
be running in front of cop cars,
playing chicken? And they wound up taking me
into the hospital. - So they're thinking
that you had mental issues? - Yeah.
- Okay, so cops got a idea.
They think that something may be wrong with you,
they take you to the hospital... - Yeah.
They said I drew a picture of someone being shot.
They said I knew... I knew something about a murder.
And that's how it all came about.
- So, the police bring you in because of this drawing.
- Right. - And they say they want you
to write this statement... - Right.
- About somebody being killed. - Right.
And then Dontae got arrested...
and I got beat up.
- Mm-hmm. Why is that?
- Because they found out I snitched on Dontae.
They called me "snitch."
- Did you have some serious injuries from this?
- My lip was busted really bad.
I still have a cut in my head here.
- Charlene, from the time you made this statement
until you had to go testify in trial,
at any time, did you talk to them
about this statement and say, you know,
"I don't-- I don't wanna say that"?
- The date of trial is when I acted out.
- In fact, you didn't show up at court that morning, right?
- I didn't. - What happened
when you didn't show up? - Yeah.
- I was handcuffed.
It was uncomfortable. I didn't wanna be there.
- Why didn't you wanna show up? - 'Cause I knew it was a lie.
I didn't wanna participate in it.
- So, if somebody had said to you that morning,
"If you don't wanna testify, if this is untrue,
you can go home right now and this'll all be over,"
what would you have said? - I would've gone.
But, you know-- as a child, basically...
falling into a trap, you know, mentally...
Ricky Best acted like he was my father.
- What did you think of Ricky at that point?
- That was my dad, man. - Right.
- What'd you call him? - I think I was
calling him "Dad." - We heard something like
"Daddy Best"? - Yeah.
- Yeah... what we he doing
that made him like that? - From Christmas gifts,
to taking me to get something to eat,
to keeping me fed, clothed, taken care of.
I felt like a kid finally did good for once--
somebody was happy, proud of me.
He made me feel like I did a good job.
"Good job, Charlene. Great job.
You did what you're supposed to do" type of thing.
"High five."
- So, what gave you the courage
to finally come forward and say that
none of this was true?
- Um...
because it's--it was a lie.
It's all a lie.
How can a person live with a lie..
and not want to go and help the person
that's sitting behind bars?
As soon as I recanted, I thought he should've been out.
And I felt like, "Why don't you believe me?
Dontae did not kill this man."
- If you could sit in front of Dontae today,
what would you say to him?
That I'm sorry.
I remember writing him a letter, and I told him when he got out--
I was a kid then--I wanted to play basketball with him.
I always loved to play basketball.
- Mm-hmm. - He said, "Sure.
We'll play basketball." He never hated me.
His family--none of them never hated me,
but I hated me.
You know how many times I wished God would take my life?
I'm free, but I'm not living.
And I haven't slept in 20-something years
because of this. I think about him,
I dream about him. I even dreamed about
breaking him out somehow. I don't know what to do,
how to do it. This is hard.
- I see it. I see it.
- Thank you for coming and talking to us today.
- Yeah, thank you.
- It's such a sad story, just hearing her
recall her life at the age of 13 and 14 years old,
and then one day, here is this detective
that's showing her all that she missed out in life,
when it comes to a father figure in her life.
And she falls victim to it. - Yeah... yeah.
You know, with my background of trying cases
and presenting cases, I can go through
even what she said, and I can go through what
Ricky Best told us, and with Carolyn Melvin,
and I can put it all together.
And I can say, you know, "Maybe it wasn't intentional."
I don't know if she was fed that information
or it kind of came together layer by layer
as the conversation was developing.
But when you get that statement
and all of the issues that that statement has,
it doesn't make sense. It's not logical.
It doesn't fit the physical evidence.
- So, you believe Dontae's innocent?
- I don't think he did it.
I didn't think I was gonna get to that point,
but after talking to everyone
that we have talked to in this case,
being able to sit down with Dontae...
- Yeah. - And listen to him...
- Mm-hmm. - I don't think he did it.
- This needs to be fixed. - Yeah, it needed to be fixed.
And she needs to be heard. - And we have a number
of people, now, who have that power.
We have the DA, we have the attorney general,
and we have the governor. They can all--
right now--look at that and say, "Yeah, this is wrong."
- Pitt County's district attorney confirms
her office is re-examining a murder case
from more than 20 years ago,
as efforts to free the man charged with the crime continue.
WITN reached out
to District Attorney Kimberly Robb,
who says that her office is almost done
investigating the murder conviction
of Dontae Sharpe. Robb says that
their findings will be shared
with the governor's office.
- The district attorney, Kimberly Robb,
has agreed to meet with us again.
And we're really eager to share with her
what we learned from our meeting with Charlene.
- How you doing? Brian Banks. - I'm good. Caroline Webb.
- Nice to meet you. - Hi, I'm Loni Coombs.
- Caroline Webb. - Nice to meet you.
- Good to meet you too. - Have a seat there.
- Thank you. - I'm assuming you're from
the Pitt County DA's office. - I am.
- Okay. We were expecting
to see Kimberly Robb, who is the DA...
And apparently you've been sent instead.
- Well, Kimberly's my boss, so...
- Okay. - When she tells you to show up,
you show up. - Okay.
- But I've been involved in her re-investigation
of the Dontae Sharpe case. I've done a lot of the legwork.
- You know, when you look at the case,
obviously Charlene's...
a big part of the prosecution case.
We were able to actually talk to her and interview her,
as far as looking into what was going on in her life
at the time that this trial was going on.
I think you might find what she says to be interesting.
- How did they end up having you write this?
- I have no clue. It was all made up.
I only knew about the murder after the fact,
when they was talking about it. Basically,
told me to put it in my own words.
I knew it was a lie.
I didn't wanna participate in it,
but... it's all a lie.
How can a person live with a lie?
- What do you think?
- I mean, I... have never met Charlene,
but it was about what I would have guessed
she would say-- that, you know,
she went along with what they "told her to say."
- So, that doesn't raise any red flags to you?
That doesn't make you want to dig more into that
to find out... what side of her story
is actually the truth-- what she initially said
or what she says now? - Charlene's recantation
has already been reviewed by the courts.
- Mm-hmm. - That recantation has been
ruled to be not sufficient evidence
to bring Dontae Sharpe's conviction into question.
And that's because recantations are reviewed
at a much higher standard than someone's trial testimony,
because there would never be any finality
in a trial for witnesses for the state.
They would be hounded forever by people trying
to get them to give affidavits recanting their statements.
So, we're at a point where we're comfortable--
when the governor's office decides to get our input
into what should happen with the case--
that we can present, kind of, a full good-faith version
of our position. We're hesitant to support
that he should be released because of actual innocence.
After talking to the assistant district attorney,
we now know she has no intention
of considering anything that Charlene has to say.
- I wasn't surprised,
but I was disappointed, because they are now going to
meet with the governor and share with them their review.
And they are standing by the conviction.
- What made me take interest in Dontae's case
is seeing a young black man who grew up
in a neighborhood that had many obstacles.
I know people like Dontae.
I could've been Dontae.
- I've said before, it's not just about my Dontae.
It's about all my other Dontaes that's incarcerated...
- That's right. - Wrongly too.
It's time for things to change now.
- Governor! - Governor!
- Free... - Dontae Sharpe!
- I want the governor's office
and the attorney general's office
to look at Charlene.
She is the evidence against Dontae.
You have to look at it, and you have to say,
"Is it credible?"
These two paragraphs that ended up
getting Dontae arrested for murder
and put him behind bars for life for murder--
understand where that came from.
Justice! - When do we want it?
Now! - What do we want?
Justice!
- It's easy for us to go through our lives
"out of sight, out of mind" -- not worrying about
what's happening to people who are being arrested
and tried for cases...
but when you're picked up off the street
for a crime you didn't commit--
by the time that they've figured things out,
it's been 10, 15, 20 years later...
that's when you're gonna realize that this is a major problem.
- Today, I want to announce a major victory.
The attorney general's office has decided to open
an independent investigation on this case.