www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/snitch/cases/aaron.html
Either tell the truth, probably go to prison for the rest of your life, or lie, cooperate with the government, do whatever it takes to get a lesser sentence. I had some friends out of Mobile, and they was in some type of drug activities, and I met some guys out of Louisiana that I became friends with, and I found out that they was into some type of drug activities. So me going back and forth from college home, I used to talk about these guys. They'd had nice cars and thing like that, and I thought that they might be dealing some type of drugs or something like that. So one particular day, my friend Robert called me at Louisiana to ask me, could I introduce the two parties? He say, "Well, if you can introduce us, I'll get you fifteen hundred dollars, if you can introduce us we can come to some type of agreement." So I got in touch with Gary and told Gary that my friends out of Alabama wanted to meet him.
But I was involved because I had introduced the two parties and the two parties didn't know each other well enough to trust each other. Neither party trusted each other so I had to be there just to smooth the way between the two parties... The only thing I can see I was involved in was introducing the two parties. As far as them making some type of transaction, whatever they wanted to get from each other, I don't know, but I did introduce the two parties ... I got charged with things that the other guys in my conspiracy did not get charged with. Only thing I did was introduce the two parties, and I got charged with the most of everything. Robert got five to seven years, I think Tino got between 12 and 14 years, and Gary got 20 years. Because during the time that I got incarcerated and prior to trial, I think they wanted me to cooperate, but I ain't have nothing to cooperate about ... The only thing I did know was that I introduced the two parties, I felt that both parties did have some type of activities, but that's as far as I could give them. I couldn't give no name, no places, none of that and so ... I feel that my biggest mistake was if I never post bond at the county jail, maybe everything would be different because I would have known then that they were conspiring to put everything on me.
semester just starting, the jurors granted me bond with a lot of stipulations, so I didn't get a chance to know what exactly was going on until trial, until I heard them testify on the stand ... More hurt than anything because these are friends of mine and I couldn't believe the things that they were saying about me ...
I hadn't had an opportunity even to talk to none of them ... I had no idea what was going on because I was out on bond and I was in two states over in Louisiana in school at the time. They was in Alabama getting with one another, trying to get their stories to corroborate. What was it like having your friends testify against you?
It really truly hurt me, Robert and James really hurt me 'cause James is my first cousin. We grew up together from playing Pop ball all the way up to high school ball together, and I couldn't believe that they would sit there, in front of me ...
I don't remember exactly how that went, but he called me and told me that the prosecutor wanted to talk to me and I said, "Talk to me about what?" And he say, "Well, I done went down here and I talked to them and I think they want to talk to you now." So I tell him I don't have nothing to talk to him about because I don't know what's going on.
there, we was going to have some fun -- which we was, you know, just like a weekend out. But see, when he testified to that, which was true, the prosecutor got mad with James and pulled him out of the courtroom and told him ...
But all I know is from that point on, James got real scary ... I got a chance to talk to him, I asked him, "James, is Miss Griffin, the prosecutor, holding something over your head?"
So at this time they declared a mistrial and take Bob as my attorney. He hurt me by taking the first attorney I felt that I had a chance with, and he hurt me again by getting on the stand and telling them lies against me, and putting me in things that I wasn't into. I said, "What you mean you have no choice in the matter?" He say "Because Miss Griffin say she didn't want Bob to try your case."
didn't cooperate and do what she told him to do, that she was going to hurt him worse in his case ... He say, "Well, the prosecutor Miss Griffin said if I don't do it she going to put me in prison for the rest of my life ... At first I had mixed emotions about James, this is somebody I looked up to all my life ... He got up there and did that to me on the stand, James ain't never even wrote me.
and he had opportunity to try and make some type of amends with me. Even though that ain't going to make no difference, he could have had a chance to speak out and not be afraid.
I have never even actually sat down, I ain't never even talked to Miss Griffin, the prosecutor. Only person I ever talk with was my attorney, so if they say they tried to get me to cooperate, I don't know nothing about it. I think one time my attorney came to me and said that, "Take a plea bargain and cooperate," or something like that, but I told him, "What am I going to cooperate to? At the time it all happened, I don't think if I wanted to cooperate at the time I could have. I don't know, something inside of me wouldn't let me cooperate, get with her and conjure up some ideas about some other guys or whatever she wanted me to ... It was just something about this whole situation wouldn't let me do it. Now with me being in the system, know how the system is today, maybe I would have took a plea bargain.
And going out and getting me a nine to five, getting into corporate America, one day, probably own my own business ... You know, sit down and try to be a productive citizen, prior to all this happening ...
that they would have gave me three life sentences running concurrent ... You going to give me life, but give all the other guys three years, five years ... Trying to do something positive for me and my family ... And probably doing the same thing they were doing before they went in. I felt I should have got no more than Robert, Chris, or even James. I am guilty of hooking up the two parties, and I knew that both parties was in some type of drug activities, yes, but about selling drugs ... I thought I shouldn't have got no more even than the minimum of probation, the most boot camp or five years in prison ... I feel good about myself because I don't have nobody's blood on my ass.
I ain't even talk to my other side of the family no more. At one time we were one close knit family, now a whole lot changed ... One rule of thumb, you do not discuss your case unless you discuss it with somebody that's trying to help you ... Conspiracy law is just too vague, for one, not to even get caught, no surveillance tapes, no telephone conversations, no money, no drugs. You ain't got nothing but my word against somebody else's word, so what makes somebody else's word better than mine? People, by any means, now, is trying to go home, so the best thing they can do ... is try to come up with some type of case against somebody else to try and get time reduction ... You got guys that leave here every month, go out back testify against somebody. You got so many in the system now, though, they hang out with each other, you can't get around them. Two-thirds of them do, it's a day to day life in here now. That's one of the main reasons people don't discuss their cases.
Now, I still blame them, but I can see now that a lot of them, that was their only choice, you know? Either they going to find somebody to testify on, follow the rules of the prosecutor, or they going to get stuck in prison for the rest of their life. Either tell the truth, probably go to prison for the rest of your life, or lie, cooperate with the government, do whatever it takes to get a lesser sentence. The easy road is to cooperate with the government, do whatever the government want them to do, testify to whatever they want them to do, and in return they receive favors.
So, to keep from the truth coming out, they ain't ...
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