1 00:00:54,480 --> 00:00:56,320 I took my responsibility. 2 00:00:57,640 --> 00:00:59,960 Nothing I can say or do could bring him back. 3 00:01:02,680 --> 00:01:04,400 I messed up, you know, and 4 00:01:04,480 --> 00:01:08,960 gotta man up and, you know, own up to your… actions. 5 00:01:31,040 --> 00:01:34,200 I've been in prison over a decade already. 6 00:01:37,280 --> 00:01:39,280 It's wrong. That's messed up. 7 00:01:52,520 --> 00:01:54,560 I was a victim myself in this, you know? 8 00:01:56,240 --> 00:01:58,240 And I can't-- I can't do nothing about it. 9 00:01:58,320 --> 00:02:00,800 I can't defend myself. I cannot say nothing. 10 00:03:48,240 --> 00:03:49,640 My name is Chucky Phillips, 11 00:03:49,720 --> 00:03:53,000 and I've been sentenced to 20 to life for murder in the second. 12 00:03:58,800 --> 00:04:01,680 I was born in Syracuse, New York. 13 00:04:06,640 --> 00:04:08,440 Grew up playing sports. 14 00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:10,960 I was definitely a jock in high school. 15 00:04:11,600 --> 00:04:15,480 I was always the captain of the team, you know, whatever sport I played. 16 00:04:15,560 --> 00:04:18,120 I had dreams of going to the NFL or MLB, 17 00:04:19,000 --> 00:04:20,160 you know. 18 00:04:20,760 --> 00:04:24,040 They were my dreams in those-- Be a professional athlete one day. 19 00:04:28,840 --> 00:04:31,960 It wasn't till, well, high school I started getting in trouble. 20 00:04:39,320 --> 00:04:41,600 About freshman year, 21 00:04:41,680 --> 00:04:44,280 I started hanging out with the wrong guys, you know. 22 00:04:44,360 --> 00:04:46,480 After school, you know, running the streets. 23 00:04:46,560 --> 00:04:50,800 You know, chasing after girls. There was a period I was in selling drugs, 24 00:04:50,880 --> 00:04:52,400 at one point, uh… 25 00:04:52,480 --> 00:04:54,200 Teenage boy stuff, you know? 26 00:04:56,640 --> 00:04:58,480 I met Eduardo… 27 00:05:00,120 --> 00:05:02,280 I would say maybe 2007. 28 00:05:02,360 --> 00:05:05,600 He dated my sister. That's how we got cool. 29 00:05:15,600 --> 00:05:17,160 My name is Eduardo Trinidad, 30 00:05:17,240 --> 00:05:20,280 and I was convicted for murder, 40 years to life. 31 00:05:24,360 --> 00:05:27,840 I was born in Puerto Rico, and I was also raised over there. 32 00:05:31,240 --> 00:05:35,120 I grew up in a foster home 'cause my mom had passed. 33 00:05:35,720 --> 00:05:37,760 My father wasn't never there for me. 34 00:05:39,920 --> 00:05:42,440 I was really quiet, uh… 35 00:05:44,440 --> 00:05:45,280 Always timid. 36 00:05:46,640 --> 00:05:48,240 Um, but… 37 00:05:49,120 --> 00:05:53,200 I mean, I wasn't a bad person at all. 38 00:06:10,320 --> 00:06:13,200 I came out here to the United States for a better life. 39 00:06:15,120 --> 00:06:18,320 I had, like, work in construction, um, mechanic. 40 00:06:18,400 --> 00:06:20,800 I know plumbing, I know electricity. 41 00:06:21,400 --> 00:06:24,120 Um, they called me a little MacGyver. 42 00:06:24,200 --> 00:06:26,200 I did a little bit of everything around. 43 00:06:43,320 --> 00:06:48,080 My main purpose that same night was because my son was born that night. 44 00:06:48,680 --> 00:06:51,920 Um, I made it to Syracuse around, 45 00:06:52,000 --> 00:06:56,320 I'd say eleven o'clock, around there, almost midnight. 46 00:06:57,240 --> 00:07:01,120 So, the visiting hours in the hospitals are closed. I can't go there. 47 00:07:02,120 --> 00:07:05,600 So, I went to Chu-- I went with Chucky to the party. 48 00:07:06,360 --> 00:07:10,800 Um, and like that, that's how I met the other guy, DeJesus. 49 00:07:21,600 --> 00:07:24,560 I think the party was about ten to twelve people. 50 00:07:24,640 --> 00:07:25,920 Wasn't no more than that. 51 00:07:28,480 --> 00:07:31,840 In my part, I wanted to enjoy it 'cause, you know, I'm happy. 52 00:07:31,920 --> 00:07:34,320 I was gonna have my newborn son, 53 00:07:35,280 --> 00:07:36,920 and I wanted to celebrate that. 54 00:07:37,480 --> 00:07:40,440 We did a lot of drinking, uh, mixing liquor, 55 00:07:41,040 --> 00:07:44,600 beer, you know, various types of pills, 56 00:07:44,680 --> 00:07:48,160 ecstasy, Xanax. There was marijuana there. 57 00:07:48,720 --> 00:07:50,240 We was all pretty wasted. 58 00:07:54,240 --> 00:07:55,560 One of the guys had a gun, 59 00:07:56,080 --> 00:07:56,920 you know. 60 00:07:57,720 --> 00:07:59,800 Even at the party, it was passed around the party. 61 00:07:59,880 --> 00:08:01,880 The guys at the party wanted to hold it. 62 00:08:02,560 --> 00:08:04,520 Everybody wanted to look at it and touch it. 63 00:08:07,320 --> 00:08:10,280 The gun… Who brung it, I don't know. 64 00:08:12,280 --> 00:08:13,440 I touched it, yeah. 65 00:08:14,480 --> 00:08:15,560 I went outside, 66 00:08:15,640 --> 00:08:18,720 trying to use it, but it didn't work. 67 00:08:19,240 --> 00:08:22,920 Um, after that, I don't know who… who got it. 68 00:08:25,800 --> 00:08:29,480 The owner of the apartment got mad and started kicking everybody out. 69 00:08:48,720 --> 00:08:51,160 I was sitting behind the passenger. 70 00:08:51,240 --> 00:08:55,280 DeJesus was in the middle, and Chucky Phillips was behind the driver. 71 00:08:58,200 --> 00:08:59,640 Nobody was talking. 72 00:09:00,320 --> 00:09:03,360 The only one that was doing the talking was me 'cause I was on the phone, 73 00:09:03,440 --> 00:09:06,920 talking to, um, my kid's mom that's in the hospital. 74 00:09:14,120 --> 00:09:17,840 When we get in the city, someone says, "Make a right, right here." 75 00:09:17,920 --> 00:09:19,440 So we turn off the main road. 76 00:09:23,120 --> 00:09:24,840 And I notice that's not my street. 77 00:09:25,400 --> 00:09:27,040 That's when I said, "Okay, 78 00:09:27,120 --> 00:09:29,160 we must be running because this is not my street." 79 00:09:29,240 --> 00:09:33,200 You know, just… It was gonna be like not pay for a taxi ride, just run. 80 00:09:33,280 --> 00:09:35,880 You know, young stupid kids' stuff, you know? 81 00:09:39,400 --> 00:09:42,240 All I heard was the car going slow. 82 00:09:44,360 --> 00:09:47,320 I didn't even know that the gun was in the cab when we left. 83 00:09:51,040 --> 00:09:55,320 I see Denny take the gun, and he pulls it on the driver. 84 00:09:56,040 --> 00:09:57,720 So I think maybe he's going to rob him. 85 00:09:58,960 --> 00:10:00,920 The driver grabs the gun from him, 86 00:10:01,000 --> 00:10:02,360 and there's a struggle. 87 00:10:02,440 --> 00:10:07,120 So, I don't know why, I just-- I grabbed it, and I yanked it from him. 88 00:10:08,320 --> 00:10:09,240 And… 89 00:10:10,120 --> 00:10:11,960 I shot him. 90 00:10:27,640 --> 00:10:30,040 I was opening the door when I heard a boom. 91 00:10:30,760 --> 00:10:32,360 I ran out of the car 92 00:10:32,440 --> 00:10:34,560 and ran between some houses. 93 00:10:36,040 --> 00:10:39,240 I came back down to see where was the guys, 94 00:10:39,320 --> 00:10:43,160 and I didn't see the… the cab driver. 95 00:10:43,240 --> 00:10:44,960 The car wasn't there anymore. 96 00:10:45,560 --> 00:10:49,680 So, I thought that everything was cool and I went back to the house. 97 00:10:49,760 --> 00:10:53,720 I went up the hill, went to the house, and they was already there. 98 00:10:58,480 --> 00:11:01,000 In the morning was when they came and arrested us. 99 00:11:02,120 --> 00:11:04,960 We all got arrested and got taken down to the prison. 100 00:21:41,880 --> 00:21:44,600 Why I plead not guilty instead of plea bargain? 101 00:21:45,120 --> 00:21:46,800 Because I wasn't gonna allow them 102 00:21:46,880 --> 00:21:52,160 to try to have me say I'm guilty for something I didn't do. 103 00:21:55,960 --> 00:21:59,080 We didn't participate together on it, you know what I'm saying? 104 00:21:59,840 --> 00:22:03,800 Nobody pointed me as the guy who pulled the trigger. 105 00:22:04,400 --> 00:22:05,400 Nobody. 106 00:22:09,120 --> 00:22:13,880 I wasn't shocked, um, when I heard them say guilty, or whatever. 107 00:22:15,880 --> 00:22:18,520 At first, I was-- I didn't believe it. 108 00:22:19,480 --> 00:22:21,960 I… I didn't have the feeling of believing it. 109 00:22:26,160 --> 00:22:29,760 Hell… It's a decade lost already with my kids. 110 00:22:29,840 --> 00:22:32,200 They're already grown-ups, um… 111 00:22:33,080 --> 00:22:35,000 I lost all that part, um… 112 00:22:38,080 --> 00:22:41,120 Um, that's pretty something like messed up, you know? 113 00:24:33,640 --> 00:24:36,000 I'm still trying to figure out to this day, like… 114 00:24:37,560 --> 00:24:38,440 Why? 115 00:24:41,400 --> 00:24:43,880 I can't even tell you the answer, like… 116 00:24:43,960 --> 00:24:46,440 I wasn't in my right state of mind. Um… 117 00:24:47,280 --> 00:24:49,680 It's hard to explain, because 118 00:24:49,760 --> 00:24:55,160 I think it was a combination of alcohol and pills mixing, you know? 119 00:24:57,800 --> 00:25:01,200 Worst mistake of my life. You know, I think about it every day. 120 00:25:01,280 --> 00:25:04,520 You know, not only that I took a life, but I ruined my life. 121 00:25:06,480 --> 00:25:09,160 The gun was Trinidad's. He brought it from Utica. 122 00:25:10,400 --> 00:25:13,240 Just the lifestyle, the lifestyle he lived, you know. 123 00:25:13,920 --> 00:25:16,680 I don't know if he needed it for protection or he just need-- 124 00:25:16,760 --> 00:25:19,120 He wanted it, just the lifestyle he lived. 125 00:25:22,080 --> 00:25:24,280 You know, I… I took my responsibility. 126 00:25:25,360 --> 00:25:29,440 My part's played. I pled guilty. People don't usually plead guilty. 127 00:25:31,400 --> 00:25:34,360 I felt that it was the right thing to do, you know? 128 00:25:37,280 --> 00:25:41,240 I feel bad for the parties involved, you know, like the deceased… 129 00:25:43,280 --> 00:25:44,280 co-defendants. 130 00:25:47,720 --> 00:25:49,360 Trinidad, his sentence blew my mind 131 00:25:49,440 --> 00:25:52,360 'cause he got 40 to life for going to trial. 132 00:25:53,840 --> 00:25:57,440 It's just… It don't make sense how… 133 00:25:58,520 --> 00:25:59,840 if I pled guilty 134 00:26:00,760 --> 00:26:01,880 and he went to trial, 135 00:26:01,960 --> 00:26:04,320 he gets more time than me for the same crime. 136 00:26:05,800 --> 00:26:07,840 It makes me believe that, 137 00:26:08,800 --> 00:26:11,040 okay, I did the right thing with taking a plea deal, 138 00:26:11,120 --> 00:26:15,080 because I would have had 40 to life. There's no question about that. 139 00:33:10,200 --> 00:33:14,960 Chucky with 20, and me with 40 to life. 140 00:33:16,400 --> 00:33:17,920 I don't think that's fair. 141 00:33:19,720 --> 00:33:21,480 My life's been destroyed. 142 00:33:23,400 --> 00:33:26,640 I would have been going with my kids, trying to enjoy life. 143 00:33:27,200 --> 00:33:29,720 Trying to give my kids things I never had… 144 00:33:30,280 --> 00:33:31,680 Uh, parents. 145 00:33:33,400 --> 00:33:37,160 I would have tried to give that to them, tried to break the cycle, 146 00:33:37,240 --> 00:33:40,120 try to bring a better-- My life with… 147 00:33:40,880 --> 00:33:42,000 with our family, as well. 148 00:33:45,800 --> 00:33:51,400 My earliest release for parole will be in 2047. 149 00:33:52,840 --> 00:33:55,360 I think I'll be around 70 around that time. 150 00:33:58,160 --> 00:34:00,280 It will be a whole wasted lifetime. 151 00:34:05,360 --> 00:34:08,720 At that time, you won't be able to manage nothing. What can you do? 152 00:36:08,680 --> 00:36:11,160 I chose to fight for my rights. 153 00:36:12,440 --> 00:36:15,680 And I think everybody has the right to do that. 154 00:36:17,320 --> 00:36:18,560 The system is broken. 155 00:36:19,160 --> 00:36:22,520 And they're doing to people just like me, all the time. 156 00:36:22,600 --> 00:36:23,840 All the time. Always. 157 00:36:24,600 --> 00:36:26,240 We got to be real about that. 158 00:36:44,120 --> 00:36:48,040 No, it was not about running pockets or nothing, you know what I'm saying? 159 00:36:48,120 --> 00:36:51,080 I was really worrying about what happened, you know what I'm saying? 160 00:36:51,160 --> 00:36:52,960 I came running back down. 161 00:36:53,040 --> 00:36:55,280 Yeah, and my intention was, 162 00:36:55,360 --> 00:36:58,560 if there's nobody around who could help him, I'm gonna help him. 163 00:36:58,640 --> 00:36:59,840 But he was gone. 164 00:36:59,920 --> 00:37:01,320 So I thought it was all right. 165 00:37:01,400 --> 00:37:05,240 I thought nothing really bad happened, you know what I'm saying? 166 00:37:05,320 --> 00:37:06,960 Until I seen it on the news. 167 00:37:08,000 --> 00:37:10,120 That's when my heart broke for real. 168 00:37:14,200 --> 00:37:17,080 The gun was Trinidad's. He brought it from Utica. 169 00:37:18,160 --> 00:37:20,760 Just the lifestyle, the lifestyle he lived, 170 00:37:20,840 --> 00:37:21,720 you know. 171 00:37:21,800 --> 00:37:24,440 I don't know if he needed it for protection or he just need-- 172 00:37:24,520 --> 00:37:27,040 He wanted it, just the lifestyle he lived. 173 00:37:29,200 --> 00:37:32,520 No, um, I did come from Utica. 174 00:37:32,600 --> 00:37:35,960 But not with a weapon. That weapon was already there. 175 00:37:36,040 --> 00:37:37,680 That got nothing to do with me. 176 00:37:40,400 --> 00:37:45,000 Trinidad's sentence blew my mind 'cause he got 40 to life for going to trial. 177 00:37:47,000 --> 00:37:50,360 It just shows the justice system is unfair. 178 00:37:52,680 --> 00:37:54,400 No, it wasn't fair at all. 179 00:37:56,760 --> 00:38:00,200 I just came for my newborn son. 180 00:38:00,720 --> 00:38:02,800 I came for my newborn son. 181 00:38:04,400 --> 00:38:07,160 And didn't made it. Didn't made it, um… 182 00:38:10,240 --> 00:38:11,640 I mean… 183 00:38:11,720 --> 00:38:15,760 I know a lot of people-- They're gonna look at it, like, 184 00:38:15,840 --> 00:38:19,960 lied, or whatever the position is, but… 185 00:38:20,640 --> 00:38:23,480 um, I just came to celebrate my son, to see him, 186 00:38:23,560 --> 00:38:25,360 to hold him in my hand, you know? 187 00:38:25,440 --> 00:38:27,920 At least to accomplish something that my dad didn't do. 188 00:38:28,640 --> 00:38:29,520 And, um… 189 00:38:30,480 --> 00:38:32,560 I guess I got a… 190 00:38:32,640 --> 00:38:36,680 I didn't have the opportunity. I wasn't having enough luck for that. 191 00:38:40,840 --> 00:38:43,560 I destroyed ten years of my life already on this. 192 00:38:48,120 --> 00:38:49,480 Is this really justice?