All language subtitles for the.confession.tapes.s01e02.720p.web.x264-strife

[rain falling]

[thunder rumbling]

[man] After I lost my parents...

I felt very unmoored and crazy.

That night in July
when that happened, I-I...

It... I can't even describe it.

All standards were lost
at that point of reality.

The unimaginable happened.

The world that Mr. Big creates
is this incredibly elaborate one,

in which this international
crime organization

has this enormous power and...

We were, like, really young and...

reality had, in part,
come from films like Goodfellas.

It creates this pervasive illusion

that the only options you have
are the ones that they're holding out.

[man] This undercover operation
doesn't work...

unless the killers have a problem
with which they need help.

So, Al, in no uncertain terms,
told Burns that if he wanted his help

getting rid of that hair
and DNA evidence in Bellevue,

he was going to have to tell him
exactly what went down

so that he knew
what he needed to get rid of.

[device clicks]

[Al] So, when'd you fucking
do the dirty deed?

[Burns] During the movie.

[Al] See you left that out, see?
I'm trying to check up on things.

You didn't tell me
that you left the movie...

You left during the movie?

Sorry, I thought
you would've known that just from--

I thought you'd just take it for granted.

[Al] No, I didn't take
fuck all for granted.

So, they got a story. The story's false.

The story doesn't match any evidence.
It doesn't make any sense.

They do whatever they can
to obtain a confession.

[Al] So, what's this about the shower?

I took a shower to clean off,
you know, blood and that kind of stuff.

The boys were called "people of interest"
for, at that point, months.

And the murder weapon was
in some of the news reports.

[Al] So, how do you know these weapons--?
Well, what'd you use?

A bat.

[Al] Okay, how did you know
they didn't find it?

Well, I-I... I don't know, but, um...

pretty early on, they kept saying that
they haven't found the murder weapon yet.

[indistinct chatter]

They kept saying they hadn't--
in the press and stuff and whatever--

They kept saying they hadn't found
the murder weapon yet.

And... that could be just some front
or something, but I...

[Al] They're not gonna find your clothes?

They're not gonna--?
Is there blood on your clothes?

[Burns] Um...

No, there wasn't.

Those clothes are gone anyhow,
but, no, there was no blood on them.

-[Al] There was no blood on 'em?
-No.

[Al] How do you fuckin' hit someone
with a baseball bat,

have to shower and have no blood on you?

You do it naked.

[Al] Fuck, see, I didn't know that either.

See, fuckin'-- You're holding
fucking things out on me that--

No, what you're saying to me, like...

"Oh, well, what do I need to know?" And--

[Al] Well, yeah. I wanna know.

I don't give two fucks
if you did it naked.

That's thinking smart.

It's little details like that
that are gonna fuck us up in the end.

See what I'm saying?

You see why I get a little pissed off?

'Cause I can't afford fuckups.

Okay, actually,
I just remembered one detail. Sorry.

Um...

I had a gonch on.

[Al] Great. Where's those gonch?

Just, like, in some garbage can
or something.

[Al] They're not the fucking boxer shorts
that are in the dryer

-or whatever they're talking about there?
-No. Definitely fucking not.

[Al] Okay.

[Levin] If you looked at the video,

Burns is doing typical
criminal braggadocio.

"Now let me break off here for a second."

Criminal braggadocio...
I'll use a case, for example.

D.E.A. headquarters
asked me to play Mr. Big

in an undercover sting operation
targeting corrupt D.E.A. agents.

I posed as Mr. Big, a Mafioso.

Met one of these D.E.A. agents.

And he so wanted to impress me
that he said things on camera

that would've gotten him
indicted for homicide

or conspiracy to murder.

Like Burns.

Only this is an experienced
D.E.A. undercover agent,

not a 19-year-old.

And the reason I say that is to show you
how vulnerable people are

in the right situation to brag.

Even though it's a lie.

Criminal braggadocio is common as dirt.

[Al] How solid's Atif?

Solid, man.

[Al] Yeah? As long as he's not gonna
fuckin' break down after and say,

-"Oh, fuckin' Sebastian--"
-Jesus Christ.

Al, man. How long do you think
we've been enduring all this stuff, dude?

Really, like, this-- I-- I, really--
I do not think that anything that--

that's gonna happen to us now
is gonna compare to that fuckin'--

It was-- It was quite intense
around those days.

I mean, we'd just sit around
and feel kind of sick, just all the time.

[laughs]

You know what I mean? 'Cause, like,
you know, it was just rough and, like,

I mean...

Whatever. Those would be the days--

Like, cops were saying
to his fucking face, like,

[in deep voice] "Atif...

we know that you know who did this

or that you know something about it
and you're not telling us," and stuff.

And I'm like--

[Al] I gotta meet him before too long.
I'll tell you that right now.

'Cause when we enact this plan in motion,
I gotta make sure that cocksucker's solid.

I mean, fuckin' solid.

Well, I haven't told him
about it yet, but...

[Al] Well, no,
we'll be telling him together.

They demanded that he bring in Atif...

because they needed the corroboration.

[Burns] This is, uh... Al over here.

-[Atif] Hello.
-[Al] How you doin', man?

[Atif] Hi. Nice to meet you.

The entire undercover operation
was focused on Burns,

but Rafay was never there.

The first time
that Rafay ever met Gary and Al

was the morning after Burns
confessed to these murders.

[Al] I don't know what Sebastian's
told you about me.

Um...

Well, he just introduced me,
said your name's Al...

[Al] Before that, before today.

Um...

That, uh, you're a businessman
of some kind?

It felt like these mobsters had sort
of Alice in Wonderland -style--

just opened up this whole 'nother view

of what the surface
of the world looked like,

so that, all of a sudden,
I fully believed that the police

were actively framing us

and that these guys had the only way
of keeping us from being arrested.

[Al] You and Sebastian
are in a little bit of trouble. In fact...

you and him are so close
to goin' to jail right now.

It's fuckin' unreal.

And I know that...

'cause of different things I know
and I've read.

Why did you do this?

[chuckles] Well, um...

Uh, I guess the reason
we did anything was to, um...

I guess set ourselves up
so that we could...

I guess become richer and more prosperous
and more successful and...

[Al] Hey, don't be embarrassed about it.

[clears throat]
Everything I do is for money.

[man] This particular Mr. Big operation

was the youngest boys ever manipulated.

No one really considered the fact
that these were 19-year-old boys

going before extraordinarily
manipulative federal agents of Canada,

the very best that they have.

[Al] Who chose the bat?

-I can't remember.
-We mutually did, I assume.

Most of this was mutual, I assume.

[Al] Why wouldn't you get a fuckin' .22?
Pop, pop, pop.

We don't know where to get firearms.

Tell us where to buy it back then,
and, you know, silencer and all this crap.

And I'll tell you something else, okay?
One thing we didn't know--

Gunshot residue test,
like, immediately after.

-It was brutal.
-Yeah.

I guess you may have known about that,
but, at the time, I--

I was fuckin' introduced to that concept
when they did the test on us.

They stashed the weapon, the Walkman
that Atif claims to have noticed

that was missing in-between
observing his murdered parents,

and the VCR that they yanked out of the--
out of the holder that it was in.

They put them in a series
of different dumpsters in Seattle.

So, the baseball bat
was never recovered.

Uh, and... there was no way
it was ever going to be recovered.

And-And-And, again,
that's an example of the planning

that went into the way these murders
were committed.

[Al] Jimmy's another guy.
What does Jimmy know about this?

What happened to you in the States.

-Tell me.
-Um, he knows...

what happened.

And then the last scenario was them
bringing Jimmy Miyoshi over to talk to Al.

And Miyoshi, he was the only one
who was smart enough

to not make any concessions
about having been involved in this plan.

[Al] What I like about you so far
is that, uh...

when they were going down to the States,
you didn't fuckin' rat 'em out.

-[Miyoshi] There's nothing to rat about.
-[Al] What? You could've ratted 'em out.

-[Miyoshi] Huh?
-[Al] You could've ratted them out.

[Miyoshi] I'm just saying
that there's nothing to rat about.

Do I believe that he was in
on some of the planning? I do.

Jimmy Miyoshi
was the last piece to the puzzle.

[Burns] He basically just wants to know,
like-- confirm with you, I guess,

did you know, like, what...

you know, was going to go on
in the States kind of thing?

[Miyoshi] Why don't you talk for me, then?

[Al] This isn't gonna work.

[Burns] Jimmy, I know
that I can trust you with my life.

You know what I mean?
He doesn't know that, all right?

And so, if you explain,
"Yes, I knew about it in advance.

I didn't say shit to anybody," okay,

It just shows that, basically, you know,

you... didn't fuck me up.

[Al] Did you know about it?

-Huh?
-[Miyoshi] Do you want me to speak loud--

[Al] No, I don't want you to speak loud.

You're sitting there like you're
a little fucking whipped puppy dog.

Do you know who killed the parents?

-[Miyoshi] Yeah.
-[Al] Who?

-[Miyoshi] Is that all you want?
-[Al] Yeah.

[Miyoshi] And... I just want...

I just want you to explain to me exactly
the purposes of you wanting to know.

Is that so we can establish
this kind of...?

[Al] Totally for trust.

-[Miyoshi] Totally for trust?
-[Al] Totally.

[Miyoshi] Okay.

-Yes, I do know.
-[Al] Okay, who did it?

[Miyoshi] Right there.

[Al] Yeah, Sebastian.
I knew that all along,

so you're not fucking telling me
somethin' I don't know.

And, as we like to say,
that was the beginning of the end.

[woman] Tonight, police charged
the two 19-year-olds

with three counts of aggravated murder...

[man] ...murdering his father, mother,
and sister.

[woman] They say they have
a wire-tapped confession from the pair...

[man] Once they had the confession,

the Canadians made an arrest
on Burns and Rafay

for the conspiracy to commit the murder.

[woman] Got anything to say Sebastian?

[man] And that confession
was now probable cause,

based on the physical evidence
that we had in Bellevue

to get warrants for their arrest
for murder in the state of Washington.

[woman] Sebastian Burns and Atif Rafay
will likely be held in custody

for some time while officials
in both countries work out legal details.

[Konat] I had to make arguments
in Canadian courts

about why Burns and Rafay
should be extradited to the United States.

They spent more than six years
fighting that extradition.

But, ultimately,
the extradition was accomplished,

and they were back
in the state of Washington

so that they could be brought to trial.

[man] Rafay, after years,

was offered a "sweetheart" soft time
in a Canadian prison

for turning on Sebastian.

As he told me--

because I wanted to make sure
I heard it from him, and I did--

he said, "I couldn't do that.
It just isn't the truth."

And he never did.

Jimmy Miyoshi was immediately threatened
with being a co-conspirator

unless he went along
with the sweetheart deal

and fingered both of them.

[Konat] We spent
about four and a half months

putting testimony on

so that all of the defense lawyers
could understand

how this undercover operation works.

And once they did, they were
in a position to argue to the judge

that it should not be admissible.

[Saunders] When you go to trial,
the only evidence that can come in

are things that's lawfully gained.

And you can't force someone
to say something

that they wouldn't have said otherwise.

That kind of confession should not come in
because it's not freely given.

[woman] Defense attorneys
wanted the tapes thrown out,

saying Canadian police
used methods illegal in the U.S.

But because investigators
followed Canadian law,

the judge said he'll allow it
under international treaty.

That motion is denied.

[woman] It is a major victory
for prosecutors.

There's all kinds of hypotheticals
and "what ifs," but that--

that was a very, very key issue
in this case.

And, obviously,
it was devastating to the two accused

that that confession
was going to be used against them.

[Dave] Sebastian was
at first represented by Neil Fox.

And Theresa Olson.

They were really hard working,
hard digging defense lawyers.

Theresa Olson went to see
Jimmy Miyoshi in Tokyo

and came away convinced
that Jimmy knew that he'd been leaned on

and that he'd like to come back
and, uh... withdraw his evidence.

Having flown back to Seattle
by 7:30 in the morning,

she was in to see Sebastian...

to tell him what she had, uh...

picked up from Jimmy
and how this was going to, uh...

really turn this case around.

And then...
the whole other fiasco occurred.

Theresa Olson was observed by no fewer
than three corrections officers

in the King County Jail
having sex with Burns.

I-I didn't see it,

but I did read the statements
of the three officers who did see it,

and it was for real.

[man] The sex scandal at the county jail
could delay the trial again.

[woman] Olson's lapse in judgment
cost the case time,

and it cost the county money.

[man] How much money
may have to be re-spent?

Uh, a lot. I don't have any way of--

There's no way for me to give you
an estimate of what we, as tax payers,

paid for the representation of Ms. Olson
and Mr. Fox for the last 34 months.

[Klonsky] Of course,
Sebastian gets blamed for this.

That was a horrifically
stupid thing to do.

But here's a young man
who's been in prison for years.

And nobody's resisting.

I think it's just part
of the strangeness of this case.

The focus has to be whether Mr. Burns
and Mr. Rafay can have a fair trial.

Um, they deserve to have a fair trial.

The allegations involving Ms. Olson
constitute a distraction to that.

[Dave] And so, Fox and Olson
were taken off the case.

Theresa vanished almost immediately.

Less than 24 hours after Theresa
gets on a plane coming back,

all excited about what she's been able
to extricate from Jimmy Miyoshi...

That's gone.

So, the case got delayed
for another 18 months, two years.

While new lawyers Jeff Robinson
and Sam Richardson came in.

When police officers pretend
to be mobsters, when they lie, threaten,

and intimidate teenagers
into manipulating them

into a make-believe world
of organized crime,

that creates the recipe
for a false confession.

During all of those years,
we did not know the evidence

that had been gathered...

against them.

I learned...

what the evidence really was...

I'm gonna say 2002.

Jeff Robinson said there's nothing
but the confessions.

And I thought, "Oh, well.

Thank God."

Because these confessions are nonsense.

According to the story
that Atif and Sebastian made up,

Sebastian went around the house,
clubbed everybody to death,

while Atif sat down in the living room
and did nothing.

[Al] Where was he when all this was
goin' on? That's what I wanna know.

He's, like... around the corner.
He didn't physically see it.

Um, and, like, the same thing
with his sister.

One of the problems with that theory,

uh, was that there was blood spatter
in Mr. Rafay's bedroom.

And the wall showed the outline of a body,

which showed, in all likelihood,
that someone was standing there,

along with the person
who was killing Mr. Rafay.

So, the story that Atif was sitting down
somewhere in the living room

and Sebastian was going around
killing everybody,

it wouldn't have held up.

[woman] There are all kinds
of internal inconsistencies and...

you know, things that just
don't make sense

and don't match
with the physical evidence.

They were asleep upstairs,
the dad and the sister.

The sister who, basically, um...

yeah, was standing up
and walking around or whatever, so...

This is a key marker
of a false confession.

[Al] Where'd you guys
get the baseball bat from?

I think it was, like,
just kickin' around or something, like...

[Al] You didn't go buy it
in a store down there

where they can trace it back to you guys?

No?

-[Al] Who bought the bat?
-It was bought in Bellingham.

-[Al] You were both...
-We were both in the store.

[Isaacs] It changes over time.

It changes from Sebastian to Atif.
It's a... It's a childish story.

[Al] Hopefully, they don't empty
the dumpster on Tuesday morning.

That's all I'm thinking of.

And yours and your friend's clothes
are both in there?

In dumpsters.

In different dumpsters all over?

Not-- Not like--
Yours and his aren't together?

Each article was in a different one.

-[Al] And what'd you do with your clothes?
-Uh...

Hucked out the window, I think.

Those-- Those ones I did.
Or-Or, at least, the socks and...

We had gloves.
They got hucked out the window.

[Al] Why do you say all the clothes
went in the dumpster,

he says they're out the window?

I'm assuming that "out the window"
is the most colloquial term

for saying, "I tossed the crap out."

As an undercover agent,
what would I say to Rafay and Burns?

I'm trying to understand.
I'm trying to believe their confession.

"Tell me how the murder
of your mother went down.

This is really important.
Tell me how it went down."

They didn't do that.

Now, we cut back to Sultana's photo.

She was obviously murdered
with the shawl over her head facing east.

I mean, if you ever want
a red flashing light that said,

"This is an Islamic fundamentalist
based murder," that's it.

It was well into the 2000s
before I realized

there's no DNA evidence.

There's no fingerprints. No weapons.

I don't really think I found out
about the Mr. Big situation

until... the trial.

[woman] Atif Rafay and Sebastian Burns
are now 27 years old

and just about to stand trial
for a triple murder that happened

when they were teenagers.

The two friends are accused
of beating Rafay's parents

and autistic sister to death,
nine years ago in Bellevue.

I thought "Yippee,
I'm getting out of work for a while."

'Cause I work on my knees at Boeing.

"Wow, I'll get a break for a while."

It was the biggest thing
that happened in Bellevue

and probably still is, you know?

[Konat] Mr. Burns and Mr. Rafay
acted in tandem to extinguish,

to systematically wipe out, if you will,
the Rafay family in July of 1994.

Their disenchantment...

[woman] James Konat was a snappy dresser.

[laughs]

He always looked so nice.

Yeah. The women on the trial loved it.

I wouldn't say
that the RCMP made my mind up,

because my mind was pretty much
already made up even before I saw that.

But I liked Mr. Big. [laughs]

That was quite interesting.

Part of the reason why they get
these targets involved in criminality

is to devalue them in front of a jury.

They want to make this person
look like someone

who's not worthy of reasonable doubt
in a fair trial.

[man] Do you want a stout?

-Sebastian.
-No, thanks.

[Isaacs] The earlier tapes
don't look good for the RCMP.

They're menacing and threatening
and bullying.

And, um... that comes through.

Did I tell ya' that fucker said, uh...
he needed the money...

for something
and had a real fuckin' attitude?

I told him, uh...

Next time... it happened...

I'd chop his fuckin'
old lady's hands off.

And fuckin', uh...

till he paid,
she'd fuckin' sit there and bleed.

This guy with his ponytail
and his greasy look and, uh...

"So, what the fuck
are you telling me? Fuck!

I didn't come on
last night's fucking train, fuckhead!"

They talked like that
to be threatening and intimidating

and, uh, to add to their image.

All these guys had been trained
in somebody's theater school.

[Al] How do you fucking,
uh, hit someone with a baseball bat,

have to shower,
and have no blood on you?

[Sebastian] You do it naked.

Once they saw the tapes,
the jury was shocked.

When someone confesses to murdering
three people, that pretty much...

I mean, that really solidified
the whole case, as far as I was concerned.

You know, I was open-minded at first,

but the one kid from Canada
had bragged about it.

[Al] Both you guys woke up one day
and said, "Hey,

let's go off your family
and fuckin' get all their money?"

[Sebastian] Basically.

It was quite disgusting, actually.

I was disgusted at Sebastian

for being so flippant
about the whole thing.

Even if the content of the confession
is demonstrated to be false,

juries think, "I would never do that.

I would never make
incriminating statements,

false statements about myself.

Only a guilty person would do that."

And that's part of the negative power
of confessions evidence.

The original defense attorneys wanted me
to testify as to criminal braggadocio.

Now, enter new attorneys.

They said, "Well, we're going
with the fear defense."

And, since they claimed
that they were frightened into confession,

then everything I wrote,
my whole review, was moot.

It was the judge that said,
"We don't need Levine's testimony."

Because you don't need an expert
to tell you that somebody's afraid or not

when it's on video.

And I was out.

The judge prohibited the defense
from raising all kinds of defenses

that, uh...

they should have been able to say.

"It could've been these people.
It could've been that person."

But none of it was allowed in
by the judge.

So, we really had a situation where

what the jury heard
was the state's evidence.

[Isaacs] They just had these statements,
and they chose to believe them.

And they chose to not believe
all of the other substantial hard evidence

that had been supplied.

[man] The defense attorney says
police ignored

a fingerprint on this shower door.

And they ignored a blood spot
in the shower with DNA

from Tariq Rafay and someone else,

someone else who didn't match
any of the victims or Burns or Rafay.

Whose DNA got mixed
with Dr. Rafay's blood in the shower?

Doesn't it have to be the killer?

[man] Robinson says police found
an unknown fingerprint on this door,

another blood spot in the garage.

Again, blood from Tariq Rafay
mixed with blood

from a different, unidentified person.

[Levin] If they did do it,
that incredibly bloody murder,

why could they not come up
with any forensics

that was undisputably linked
to the murder?

Nothing. Zero.

If they did do it,

how come, in the hundreds,

if not, a thousand hours of audio
that I listened to--

that they didn't know
they were being taped--

it was in their car, in their bedroom--
how come they never even mentioned it?

Sebastian...

[Levin] The fact that these prosecutors
were willing to put in as evidence

that they're devotees of Nietzsche,
who believes that it's okay

for people to kill each other--

as evidence--
tells you really how bad this is.

[Hutchinson] They also were
the subjects of some betrayal

by, at least, one of their friends,
Jimmy Miyoshi.

What did Atif tell you

when he discussed what had occurred
at the time of the murders?

I remember him telling me,
after his mother was struck, that...

he went and got the VCR,
while Sebastian had gone in...

into, uh... his father's bedroom.

And when they had left,
that his sister was...

um, I guess, still alive.

[Konat] Jimmy Miyoshi was one
of the most obstinate and uncooperative,

soft-spoken, polite witnesses
I've ever had.

With the time that you were living
in Ontario, going to school,

and then the time when you moved to Japan,

there was a total of about six years

where nobody contacted you
about this case.

Yes.

[Robinson] And when this case
came back into your life,

it ended up touching your job, didn't it?

Yes, eventually, it did affect my job.

[Konat] The only reason
he ever came back to testify

was because he was working
for an American corporation in Japan.

And we called them
and told them about his role and our...

our concern about how involved
he might've been in this.

And his employer said to him,

"You need to go
to the United States of America

and cooperate with the authorities and do
what you need to do to make this right."

And that's the only reason
we ever got Jimmy Miyoshi back here.

[Robinson] And it was clear to you

that if you refused
to come here and testify,

your company would find
a reason to fire you

-in the immediate future?
-Yes. That's what I believed, yes.

[Robinson] I'll ask if this is a copy
of an email that you sent to Mr. Konat...

the King County prosecutors.

In the first paragraph, sir,
did you state the following?

"I did not believe you had it
in yourselves to damage careers

that my wife and I have worked
considerably hard to rebuild

from our situation almost ten years ago.

I am not sure
what we have to live for at this point,

and I am not convinced
that we can ever recover from this."

-Did you write that?
-Yes.

[Robinson] July 31st, 1995. I'm going
back to that day you were arrested.

One of the things they were telling you
is that you could go to jail

if you didn't say Sebastian and Atif
told you about the murders.

And Sergeant Rinn
confirmed that for you.

He told you, "Hey, we'll re-open

our conspiracy-to-commit-murder case
against you in Canada

if you don't come and testify, consistent
with your immunity agreement."

That's what he told you, right?

Possibly, yes.

[Robinson] Do you recall saying
that Atif told you his sister was alive

when they left the house
after attacking the family?

-You said that yesterday, didn't you?
-Yes.

[Robinson] It's the first time
in eight years

that you have ever said
anything like that, isn't it, sir?

I-I probably have mentioned
things like that,

but not necessarily in those statements.

[Robinson] You're making it up
as you go along, sir.

That's why you're saying things
for the first time yesterday.

No, I don't believe I am.

[Robinson] You actually called my office
before you came here to testify.

-Didn't you?
-[Miyoshi] Yes, I did.

[Robinson] One of the things you said
during that conversation was,

"Well, Mr. Robinson,
how would the situation change

if I were to be a witness for your side?"

You remember saying that?

Um...

No, I don't.

So, from any evidence
I've ever read about Jimmy Miyoshi,

he largely said what he thought--
what it was they wanted to hear.

[Levin] I-I absolutely think nothing
of the Jimmy Miyoshi statement.

You can pretty much threaten
somebody with prosecution

and get them to say anything.

[Konat] They're desperate
for you to believe

that somebody snuck into that house

in a very brief period of time
and systematically executed this family.

How many times
does the evidence have to tell us

it's not Sebastian and it's not Atif.

They are desperate for you to ignore
the way that they behaved

for the 12 months that followed.

We still don't know
who committed these murders.

[Dave] I was there for the closing.

And when I heard
the closing arguments of both sides,

I thought, "These kids are gonna
be out of here."

I was convinced
that they were gonna be walking free.

She was in her bedroom
while Sebastian Burns and Atif Rafay

were systematically executing her parents.

I thought Konat was rambling,
and he was... he was angry.

And I'm thinking,
"He thinks he's lost this case,

and he's trying to pull out the--
whatever he can."

What this is really all about is,
they're upset that they got caught.

And that was what I took away
from his closing argument.

I was dead wrong.

[man] We, the jury, find the defendant,
Glen Sebastian Burns,

guilty of the crime of murder
in the first degree.

We, the jury, find the defendant,
Atif Ahmad Rafay,

guilty of the crime of murder
in the first degree.

[Hutchinson] In the end,
despite the tight alibis,

the lack of physical or forensic evidence,

the jury convicted them,

and they convicted them
for one reason only,

and that's because of their confessions.

-[man] Your reaction, Mr. Burns?
-Back off. Back off.

Give us some room. Thank you.

Found guilty on three counts of homicide.

And then we were there for the sentencing.

[man] Uh, Mr. Burns,
I'm obligated at this point to stop

and give you an opportunity
to make a statement before I sentence you.

If there's something you want to say,
I will, uh, certainly consider it.

Mr. Burns.

Thank you, Your Honor.

My friend and I have been convicted
for a crime we did not commit.

There's two things I want to discuss
this morning, if possible.

The first is, a few reasons
why I think our trial is unfair.

With respect.

I was hoping to make
some comments about the evidence.

We were unable to tell this jury...

about other suspects...

who knew what the murder weapon was
before anybody else did.

We were prosecuted with a tactic
that would not be legal in this country.

We were not able to present evidence
to answer the state's case.

I was not allowed to give

critical testimony
that I needed to give...

to explain this evidence.

We were defending ourselves in this trial
with both arms tied behind our backs.

[Konat] Burns stood up and said
that his two Ivy League educated lawyers

didn't handle his case properly,

that they didn't give him
effective assistance of counsel.

You know, I think most people

who understand
what the word "hubris" means...

they oughta put his picture
in the dictionary.

I'm certainly...

I certainly feel sorry for the victims.
I feel sorry for their surviving son.

I feel sorry for their surviving family.
We didn't commit the crime.

We've been found guilty

based on the continuing
representations of the state...

and the news media.

It seems that...

the principal other piece of evidence
against us is...

is arrogance.

Our arrogant personalities.

When the newspaper stories
first started to appear about us

when I was 18, back in 1994...

my stomach would go into knots
whenever a story would come out.

I would be inconsolable
for the rest of the day.

The way that I got over that
was to become cynical and to act tough.

And it's the same way I got over
not being able to go to school.

Or work.

Or have a public life.

[woman coughs]

Atif and I have been convicted
for a crime we didn't commit.

We're going to be sentenced
for a crime we didn't commit.

Unless somebody does something to stop it.
Your Honor, that's all I have to say.

[Dave] Sebastian's statements
actually were quite articulate,

but for people who were just there
for the show

and hadn't followed the case,
it was written as a deranged rambling.

But it wasn't that way at all.
It was the, uh, thoughts expressed,

perhaps not as punchy
as they could have been,

but when you've spent seven or eight years
in various forms of incarceration...

uh...

you...

you didn't perhaps have
the, uh, best critical audience.

[Mertel] Mr. Burns, you're, uh...

you've been, uh...

uh, given ample opportunity
to make your allocution.

Uh...

It's-It's-- It's chilling,
uh, your recitation...

of what you feel has occurred
over these many years.

It's chilling in the lack of remorse
that you show for these victims.

I mean, it was virtually a throwaway line

that I suspect your attorney
suggested to you after the break.

-[Sebastian] That's not true.
-But, in any event, it--

You got to talk, Mr. Burns.
Now, I get to talk.

Okay?

You're not immoral. You're amoral.
You have no moral rudder, whatsoever.

You are an arrogant convicted killer.

You are not a kid,
as you so often refer to yourself.

You're an adult, and you will
be held responsible as an adult.

You were convicted, Mr. Burns,
based on your own chilling,

casual confession.

It is, therefore,
the conclusion of this court

that you should be sentenced
on count one, on count two,

and on count three,

to life without possibility of parole.

Those three sentences
to run consecutively.

Shall we proceed with Mr. Rafay?

I wanna thank you, Your Honor,
for the opportunity in speaking.

[sighs] Today is a day of anguish for me.
It's not the first.

I... want to insist today on the truth...
that we are innocent.

[voice breaking] And I loved my parents.
I revere their memory to this day.

I can't convey to you the mortification

that I felt over the course of this trial,

the lie that we told,
the masks that we put on.

The masks that we put on...

to survive a situation,

an appalling, atrocious situation
that was constructed...

constructed to entice us and elicit
from us those very lies and that mask.

I'm tormented by the thought

that I've been manipulated somehow
into contributing to the fact

that my parents' killers, to this day,
walk with impunity,

that their murders have never
been properly investigated.

The loss of my parents devastated me,
left me utterly bereft.

I didn't know how to construct--
re-construct my life

in the month--
weeks and months that followed.

When I say I loved my parents,

I don't mean...

that I felt merely the feeling
of affection that every child,

I'm sure, feels for their parents.

I mean that I truly admired my father.
His brilliance, his learning...

his...

sincere pleasure
in every opportunity at generosity.

I was probably closer to my mother
than to any other person

than I ever will be.

And the memory of her wit and her charm
and her keen human sympathy...

are dear to me to this day.

And-And they'll be vivid
to everyone who knew her,

including some of my friends.

I consider having my family
the greatest of privileges.

They're with me in my memory today.

I'm gonna continue to struggle
for the truth in this case,

of our innocence.

Because...

I won't betray their hopes for me

or their expectations of me,

which I'm proud to say that they had.

-I'd like to thank this court.
-[Mertel] Mr. Rafay, thank you.

Unlike your colleague, I find you
genuinely remorseful, Mr. Rafay.

Uh...

I think you do have a moral compass. Uh...

Your conviction was-- and I...

I can't explain it either,
why you would do that if it wasn't true.

The difficulty is telling somebody
you were lying then,

but you're telling the truth now.

Always a difficult proposition.

But you were convicted
on your own confessions.

Frightening confessions
casually given about...

how you did these things
and why you did it.

In fact, I think one of your remarks was,
"This was unfortunate,

but it simply had to be done
to get what we wanted in life."

It's the responsibility of this court
to sentence you,

and I will do that at this time.

On count one,
it's life without possibility of parole.

On count two,
it's life without possibility of parole.

And on count three,
it's life without possibility of parole.

And those three sentences
are to run consecutively.

[Hutchinson] So many people can't believe
that the Mr. Big technique

is allowed to happen in Canada,

that police officers are allowed
to conduct themselves this way.

And the Canadian Supreme Court has,
in the last year or so,

thrown out a Mr. Big conviction.

The Canadian Supreme Court finally said,
"From now on, you can't do it.

It's presumed inadmissible in trial."

But this was years after Sebastian
had already been convicted.

[Dave] We see him once a month, and...

uh, it's reasonably pleasant.

We can see him
for about four or five hours at a time.

He spent about ten years
in solitary confinement.

And solitary confinement
is a real brain scrambler.

We saw many changes occurring to him.

You deal with it.

Sometimes, you sleep.

Sometimes, you can't get it out
of your mind and you go over it.

"If I had done this, if I had said that."

Uh...

Wow.

In prison, there's an initial shock,

and then there's... there's
this frightening sense of unreality.

When that begins to fade away
and you enter into a routine,

your previous life begins to seem
like a-- some sort of a dream.

I think that's very frightening.

And especially the idea
that it is gonna continue

and continue and continue like that.

After having recently been married,
I've had a lot of...

I guess, opportunity to think about,

you know, where my dad was
when he was my age...

and where I am now.

Loretta really changed my life
in the sense

that there's now something every day

that I look forward to doing,
which is talking to her.

And gives a whole different shape
to my week

because I'm always looking forward
to seeing her on the weekends.

We always are able to share things,
like reading Shakespeare together

in the visiting room

or working on some issue together.

It changes the whole way
in which I think about time

and think about what I'm doing.

It's a very strange thing
to fall in love and--

and have this beautiful experience
happen in prison

while you're going through
something like this.

[rain falling]

I had been used to my parents
taking care of me

and taking care of things
in the responsible adult world.

I thought that...

that this was one of those things
that would just be taken care of.

I should have been an adult about it.

Justice will not happen
just because you're innocent.