Original subtitles

[ominous music]

[Pooneh] On the morning of my mom's homicide,

one of the neighbors

at her apartment complex told the police that he

remembered seeing the yellow car.

[man] On the day of the murder,

-I heard a "POP"... -[pop sound]

...looked out of the window

I saw, just the back end of a yellow car,

exiting the parking lot

at a relatively high rate of speed.

[Pooneh] Subsequently, Don,

he was at my mom's daycare two days before the homicide,

says he saw a yellow car.

[Don] When I pulled up to the daycare center,

I noticed the small yellow car here.

So, for me, the yellow car is the killer.

[Renee] The D.A. had decided Effie was divorced,

so it had to be her husband,

and they just ignored

this whole body of evidence and witnesses.

[Pooneh] Everything's siting right there...

but they've got a conviction

that they don't want to overturn

because it makes them look bad.

I think the police had investigative tunnel vision.

They, certainly, in my eyes, conducted a

incomplete investigation.

Sloppy police work.

[Pooya] When my dad came out of prison,

it was a very happy day,

um, and there was a little bit of that

closure, there as well, too,

because, you know, he was alive,

and I get to see him now.

I remember when he came out,

of the door,

God, it broke my heart, you know?

Prison had taken a toll on him.

He looked much older,

but it wasn't back to normal life for us.

He had lost trust in everything.

He had been institutionalized for so long,

that even when he was free, he still didn't feel free.

[Pooneh] I'm sure people understand

that people come out completely traumatized.

They're a completely different person,

so, the initial joy is short lived,

now you have to deal with the scars,

that were created by 16 years of being in prison.

[Pooya] Not too much longer after he came out,

eight years later,

my father started getting sick,

I just, naturally,

stepped into the roll of taking care of him,

he knew that he was on his way out,

um, and so I just followed his wishes.

He wanted to die at home,

He passed away from heart failure,

it was just him and I to the, the very end, and

it was, was very hard.

Since you're not gonna use the car

you should let, let your daughter use it,

cause how much, I mean,

how, how much more life do we have left, daddy?

Not much more.

[Pooneh] This is hard to say but he had died...

years earlier for me.

I... was upset, but...

I was so focused on my mom's case,

that I didn't want to be derailed from that in any way,

neither emotionally or mentally.

I mean, I, literally, was doing anything and everything I could

to just keep above water and maintain the pace

on working on my mom's case.

Doing the investigative work

that the police should have done 30 years ago.

Okay.

There is a yellow car that's seen leaving the crime scene

and my dad didn't have a yellow car.

That's huge.

[Glenn] The importance of the yellow vehicle is

we have the vehicle identified by two neighbors

leaving the scene, right at the time of the shooting.

When it comes to homicide investigations

you have to explore all investigative avenues

no matter where it takes you.

That's vital information that they did not look at.

[traffic noises]

[Pooneh] With Chris Peterson's help,

I asked him if he could go to the state of Washington...

licensing and get a list of all the Toyotas

registered in the state of Washington

between 1974 and 1989.

[Chris] We spent a lot of time trying to find

the owner of the yellow Toyota.

That was a very popular make and model of cars.

There were probably tens and thousands of Toyotas

registered in the state of Washington

meeting our criteria.

The information they gave us included the driver's name,

where the area was.

Was it Vancouver, was it Seattle?

So, I quickly narrowed it to everybody Vancouver,

and then I started looking at the addresses,

and, I mean, it took weeks,

but I did notice one thing.

Out of the people that I was going through,

there was one Iranian name,

that had a Toyota, and it was yellow,

in Vancouver, Washington.

By the time... I found him,

he had already passed but he had two daughters.

I approached his daughters, showed them the photo

of the Toyota.

The one daughter confirmed that yes that was her dad's car.

The daughter says that the car went in to a mechanic

around April of 1989.

A month before my mom's homicide.

And she remembers it taking quite a long time

for them to get the car back.

I asked if they knew what mechanic.

They didn't know...

but what they said is their dad bartered everything.

Who else is going to barter with you,

other than another Iranian?

So once we identified that it could possibly be

an Iranian mechanic, Chris got back to work.

[Chris] We narrowed it down

to the only Iranian mechanic it could be

and his name was Viktor Pell

[Renee] We had a new suspect.

Yes, we knew there were so many unanswered questions

but we not out of the game yet.

[recorder clicking on]

[Renee] Are you aware that Effie Entezari

was murdered in 1989 in Vancouver, Washington?

[Viktor] I heard that, yes, I heard that.

[Renee] How did you hear that?

[Viktor] Many years ago they said that.

I didn't, I don't, I really don't know how...

how it happened.

[Renee] Did you ever meet Effie Entezari?

[Viktor] No.

[Renee] Did you ever work on any small Japanese cars

in the eighties?

[Viktor] Yes, I did.

[Renee] Which ones?

[Viktor] Toyota... that's it.

[Renee] Do you recall working on a yellow Toyota car?

[Viktor] I don't, I don't know. Maybe.

[Pooneh] I started doing research on him.

I was showing the surveillance photos

to someone in the Iranian community

trying to find out if anyone knew who this person was,

and they said,

"You know he used to work for the Iranian police."

His job was to... kill people, basically,

that were against the Shah.

[traffic sounds]

[Patrick] The Shah of Iran was determined to keep

a tight control over the country

and would not tolerate much in the way of dissent.

So the Shah set up a secret police

The SAVAK was known for how it tortured people

and the prisons that it ran.

They wanted to create an atmosphere

in which everyone was scared of them

and they just simply killed people.

What was an assassination.

[Renee] What was your employment history in Iran?

[Viktor] I was in the army.

[Renee] Are there any warrants out for you in any countries

outside the U.S.?

[Viktor] Maybe Iran. [laughs]

[Renee] He is someone who has the skills to quickly

go in an eliminate somebody, in broad daylight,

without leaving a trace.

It would make sense that, if he was a trained assassin,

which we believed he was, he wouldn't know Effie.

We had a suspect.

We tried for months to get his DNA.

[music intensifies]

Viktor Pell's DNA was very difficult to obtain

We tried touch DNA on his car door handles,

but since he was an auto mechanic

who worked with his hands, there was a lot of dirt

and grime which rendered the samples unreadable.

We had a straw that was cross contaminated,

a padlock, a power tool, came back inconclusive,

or not enough DNA to match.

We kept getting close, but every time we got a sample,

we would send it in, it would come back as inconclusive

or not enough DNA to match,

and then we'd have to start all over again

via another method.

Each one of those could take up to a month.

We kept getting in there, trying to get DNA,

and that has a risk of getting caught,

and we did not want to get caught,

so there was a lot of stress involved with that.

We ended up really getting lucky

by going through his garbage and recycling containers.

I was methodically going through each individual garbage bag

that was tied up,

and then we saw Q-tips and bloody disposable razors.

This was a big moment.

[Pooneh] I was very excited,

so we contacted the lab immediately.

They were able to get his DNA.

It was a match.

The DNA profile that had been collected from my mom's sweater

matched with the Iranian mechanic's,

DNA a profile.

It's funny when you get, like, that one fact

that just, all of a sudden, it answers all the questions.

[Pooneh] From everything we've gathered,

the mechanic didn't know my mom.

[Chris] We think there's a strong possibility

that someone else was involved in this homicide

and that they got Viktor Pell involved.

[Renee] We were able to find one connection

Viktor Pell and Effie Entezari both knew

Effie Entezari's business associate.

[Pooneh] Back in 1989, my dad contacted

a private investigator

from Blue Moon Investigations, and asked that they start

following my mom's business partner.

It wasn't until 30 years later that those pictures

end up becoming extremely important.

Blue Moon Investigation took surveillance photos

of both my mom's business partner

and Viktor Pell together.

[Douglas] It was a huge break in the case.

Should change everything.

This cold case that has covered 30 years,

where it seemed very open and shut,

but then it's like peeling an onion, more keeps coming out.

I haven't had anything quite like this.

The Clark County prosecutors office,

now, has to make a decision.

Do they have enough evidence here to make an arrest,

and re-open this case and bring new charges,

or do they finally say enough?

We're gonna stick with the conviction we have

and that's just the way it is.

[Renee] In order to have a criminal trial,

we would have to have

the Clark County Special Prosecutors Office

be behind us.

That is something that we just were having no luck.

The big problem that the DA has and Clark County has, is that

they've already got a conviction on the books against Mike Entezari.

They don't want to admit that anything went wrong,

and it's really hard to get a successful conviction

against a subsequent killer because they get to say

somebody else was convicted of this crime,

he couldn't have done it,

and that's just such an easy, simple thing

for a jury to understand.

What's our next option? A civil wrongful death case.

So, on the criminal side, if the prosecutor wins,

they can put the killer in jail,

whereas, if I bring the suit and win,

we can get a money compensation.

Do you think we have enough evidence

to a reasonable degree of certainty,

to prove that Viktor Pell was the murderer?

Because we would have to prove to a jury,

who's gonna hear about your dad's conviction,

that another jury got it wrong,

and that in fact, it's Viktor Pell,

based on just, just, this DNA evidence

That's not all we have.

We have the fact that Viktor Pell says

he doesn't know my mom,

so if he doesn't know my mom, and has never met her,

the how is his DNA on my mom?

And... we have his background,

which is another family took out a restraining order

against him because he was threatening to kill them,

and we also have his background information from Iran,

where he worked for the Shah.

So I--so I have concerns that that's just not

gonna be a winnable case, so are you okay

doing a case we might not win?

The jury's gonna go in and say

well, there's already a conviction,

so we have to prove that it wasn't my dad's gun,

that killed my mom and that it is Viktor Pell.

How do you think we are gonna do

with the fact that he's just so elderly?

He's 87.

There's a huge question mark in this case

of whether the jury can see him 35 years ago,

or are they gonna get caught up in his age.

-That's gonna be the tough thing. - Exactly.

But I want to go to trial because I don't wanna lose him.

I want my mom to have her day in court.

Okay. Well, then we get ready for trial.

Yeah.

Okay.

[Renee] If I am looking at the facts and I'm looking at

what a jury can do, I think there's a...

better than 50 percent chance we will lose,

and I've told my client, time and time again,

that a jury could easily find against us,

but she wants her day in court.

[soft ominous music]

[Pooya] Am I gonna sit with you guys or back in the...

[Pooneh] I think you're gonna sit with us.

[Pooya] My only thing I wanted to avoid is seeing

any of the crime scene photos.

Is that gonna be stuff I'm gonna be seeing today?

[Pooneh] I don't...

Maybe I'll just close my eyes.

[Pooneh] Yeah, I don't know, um...

I wanna be able to sleep tonight.

[Pooya] I didn't realize the magnitude of her drive

until we were a little bit older,

and I realize, I mean,

that takes a special kind of person to do that.

I've always thought that she has a lot of my father's traits

Daddy.

The same way, when he had a problem in front of him,

he wouldn't stop until he figured it out.

[Renee] Everyday, I have nerves in this case

that I don't typically have.

I have worked with her, pretty consistently

over 20 years,

and the idea that I might make some kind of mistake,

that would do something to derail this case,

is just a lot of added pressure.

I care so much and,

I want Pooneh to have her best day in court.

[Pooneh] I was really nervous going into trial, I was like,

What are you doing?

If I could have backed out, I would have, but,

I need the win for my mom, and if we don't get it

then that's, you know, I failed.

That would be not okay.

You know, it's like 35 years of work

that happens today.

[Judge] Thank you. Please be seated.

Sitting in the same room with Viktor Pell,

I was mad.

[Judge] Please direct your attention to Ms. Rothege,

present an opening argument.

On May first, 1989, Effie Entezari was murdered.

Effie's death left her two children motherless.

Pooneh and Pooya, who was just 14 years old,

and only seven months later, Mike Entezari, her husband,

was convicted of her murder.

But, if it wasn't Mike who murdered Effie Entezari,

then who was it?

In this trial, we will give you the proof

to answer both those questions.

[Judge] The defendant in this case,

Viktor Pell, is representing himself,

and Viktor Pell is being assisted

by an interpreter within his native language of Farsi.

Mike Entezari was found guilty

of the allegations brought against me here today.

I understand the desire for the plaintiff to want to clear

her father's name in the murder of her mother.

We all have parents and want to think the best of them.

[Douglas] Viktor Pell made the argument

that any jury member could understand,

which is, that we all want to feel good about our parents.

Any of us would have a hard time accepting that our father

could kill our mother, and that that's what this was.

The plaintiff's team of attorneys will, no doubt,

paint an elaborate, fantastical story.

Because I cannot afford an attorney,

I will choose to invoke my fifth amendment,

so my words are not twisted into something untrue

and used against me,

but I am here because I am innocent.

[Douglas] The thought came to my mind

that someone had recommended

to Mr. Pell that he go in without a lawyer,

that he would appear sympathetic, elderly,

kindly looking old man, who is confused,

feels like he doesn't understand.

What's going on, why is he here?

Not a bad idea as far as defense plans go.

[Pooneh] So, today was the first day of trial.

Um, I thought it was awful.

He put on a show to get sympathy.

I think the optics didn't look good.

I don't think it looked good at all.

There's Pooneh and my team, and we're all pretty button down,

It looks like were kind of this overpowering group,

that has come to pick on this poor, little old man

who can't even speak English, he's very disabled

and just kind of a broken person.

You just felt very sorry for him.

[Pooneh] He sat there acting feeble,

and like an elderly man,

and there's nothing I could do about it.

I thought that was... that was not okay.

[Judge] Thank you. Please be seated.

Moving on to the next witness for the plaintiff.

[Renee] Yes your honor, we call Rod Engros to the stand

Can you please summarize for us

what are your opinions in this case?

Based upon my reconstruction...

this was not a crime of passion,

this was not a robbery, this was a hit.

I would expect to find the DNA of the person shot her,

on her left sleeve, based on the position that she was in,

and then Viktor Pell's DNA was on Effie's sweater,

on the left sleeve.

So, in your opinion, who killed Effie Entezari?

Viktor Pell.

I have no further questions.

[Judge] Mr. Pell, do you have any questions for this witness?

I wanted to know what time did this happen?

At six o'clock in the morning, May first, 1989.

-What year was that? -1989.

My question is that this isn't right.

That wasn't me.

Okay. That's a statement, um...

anything you want to ask this witness?

Uh, I don't know what to say, I'm not a court person.

I think that this is made up.

They made this up against me, can I say that?

It's not a question.

[Pooneh] He pretended he didn't understand

anything the judge was saying to him.

If I'm jury, I'm gonna go, "Can he even stand trial?"

Does he have the mental capacity?

He, literally, did everything he could to play with the jury.

[Renee] I think there's real problems.

I think any jury, could easily decide, well,

We've got a conviction that stands even to this day.

Viktor's very savvy. He knows how to work the system.

[woman] This next person has formulated opinions about

the firearms and tool marks related to the homicide bullet

-in Effie Entezari's case -[man] Yes ma'am.

What are those opinions?

[man] Just, uh, that Mike Entezari's revolver

was not used in the shooting,

and that this, uh, the bullet recovered from the scene,

could not have been fired from his revolver.

And was it this methodology that allowed you

to form your opinion that the gauge

in the homicide bullet should have been

an immediate eliminator of Mike's gun?

[man] Yes, that's exactly true.

This is the revolver that Mike Entezari owned.

That gauge was created by a revolver

that had a damaged barrel crown

and Mike Entezari's revolver crown is perfect.

With that, let's move forward with the next witness

for the plaintiff. -[Renee] Yes, your honor.

Next plaintiffs call, Larry Hebert,

by a 35 minute deposition.

What do you see in exhibit two?

Well, I see a full metal jacket bullet.

I do see a pretty deep gauge, on the side of the bullet there,

possibly due to some damage,

perhaps, to the, uh, to the crown of the muzzle.

[Renee] Do you see on, when we're looking at 1528,

can you describe, on the side, what that demarcation is?

It's a, it's a gauge of some type.

[Renee] What analysis did you do on the gauge?

Well, I didn't use that as my point of comparison,

cause I really didn't see that on my test fired bullets.

[Renee] Did you look at Mr. Entezari's gun

to see if there was any damage to the crown?

I would've picked that up in my exam.

I didn't notice, I didn't note that.

[Renee] So, that would lead you to believe

that there was no damage to the crown?

That would be my, that would be my thought, yes.

[Pooneh] Essentially, we're saying

that Larry Hebert knew the truth.

He knew what that gauge was in the bullet and he ignored it.

He knew that my dad was innocent

and he blatantly lied to the jury in '89,

in order to secure a conviction.

I kept looking at the jury,

cause, I'm like, are they understanding, cause sometimes,

it can go above your head,

like, I know with ballistics, it took me a long time

before I understood.

[Renee] As a police practices expert,

what were you hired to do in this case?

[Glenn] To review this case and give my opinion on

how Clark County Sheriff's Department

conducted the investigation into the murder

of Effie Entezari.

[Renee] Could you please tell the jury

what those two opinions were?

The first one was that Clark County Sheriff's Office

had investigative tunnel vision when they conducted this investigation.

They zeroed in on Mike Entezari right from the beginning

of the investigation, as soon as the murder happened.

[Renee] And what was your second opinion?

[Glenn] That the Clark County Sheriff's Department

did not conduct a thorough investigation,

which would have led to the prosecution

of the true killer of Effie Entezari.

They did not interview all the potential people

that could be providing you information about the case.

[Judge] Next witness for the plaintiff.

[Renee] Yes, this time we will play a clip

of Christine Wescott.

I was mad because I knew that he spoke English,

[Renee] Do remember the name Viktor Pell?

Yes, I knew him.

[Renee] Was there a romantic element to your relationship?

Yes, there was.

[Renee] Did you have an impression of

Mr. Pell's English abilities?

-Of his English ability? -Yeah,

whether he struggled or whether he was fluent.

He seemed pretty fluent.

[Renee] And what did he share with you about his time in Iran?

Only that, um, he...

I think Mr. Pell did some bad things over there.

[Renee] What makes you say that?

-Um, just from what he told me. -What is it that he told you?

He told me, um... that, I don't know if he

took care of people that were against the Shah.

I think he was in that kind of a line of work.

It was very secretive, you know what I mean?

[Douglas] I found powerful,

the testimony of his former girlfriend.

Could he have been making it up to try and impress a girl?

Could be. Or, maybe this isn't just this kindly little man.

Thirty years ago, when this happened he wasn't an old man

and looks like he had the skills to do damage to people.

[Renee] From an evidentiary foundation point of view,

I feel good, however,

that's not enough to win a trial.

There's still the fact that Viktor Pell is a--

creates a very sympathetic, emotional figure,

and there's so many things that could still go wrong,

that, I mean, I don't know what's going to happen.

[Pooya] I kept my father's car for sentimental reasons.

It's not much to look at, but it was a part of him

for a while, so having it here really, you know,

makes me feel like he's, a part of him is here with me.

Keeps me going through the day.

You know, sometimes, I like to just...

I know it looks weird, but,

and I just sit here and I think about my father.

I really hoped the he could have lived longer to see this,

cause he needed it.

The closure that Pooneh and I are looking for in our lives,

it really took a toll on him

and he suffered a lot.

He died very unhappy.

That really broke my heart because I did everything

in my power to make him happy and I just couldn't.

I knew that I was gonna have to

get up there and be asked some difficult questions,

in front of 12 strangers.

I felt very uneasy about the whole thing,

especially, when my sister sat me down and said,

"You're the star witness."

All my life, all I've wanted to do

is hide from it.

You know, I remember a lot of the things

that really bother me, the tragic moments.

They thought my father had killed my mother,

and I'll never forget when they said, uh, they said,

"We found your mom's blood all over your dad's clothes."

and that was just the most terrifying thing to hear.

Did you have problems, as a young person,

without your mom?

Yes I did, um...

and I still do to this day, uh... [clears throat]

I had a lot of, uh, issues, abandonment issues,

I had difficulty, getting in, being in, relationships

with women.

Were you able to start your own family?

I never was, unfortunately, I wish that I could have,

but, uh... [clears throat]

...and you know, it has been 35 years, later, you'd think,

somebody could move on with their life,

but I never was able to move on, and so,

I stayed alone most of my life.

[Renee] I have no further questions.

[Renee] Your Honor, members of the jury,

this case is about making sure that justice is served,

for Effie Entezari and her family.

And for 35 years, the answer to who really killed Effie

remained on her sweater.

Viktor Pell has led a full, free, rich life.

He took that from Effie.

She was never able to see her children grow up.

She was never able to go to her daughter's wedding.

She never met her grandchildren.

And, so, we're not asking you to evaluate Mr. Pell today.

We are asking you to evaluate his actions in 1989.

All you have to find is that she was killed

by Viktor Pell. Did he cause her death?

If we lose this case,

Mike Entezari will go down in history as a murderer,

and the person who really killed Effie,

will never be brought to justice I mean, that it's game over.

I want you to know that I did not know Effie Entezari,

I never met Effie Entezari and I never saw Effie Entezari.

The plaintiff's council has not, in any way, proven their case

by a preponderance of evidence or more likely than not

that I am lying.

Instead, what we have seen, is a reliance on speculation,

assumptions and a narrative that has been crafted.

That's going to bring us to the conclusion of the case

and an opportunity to begin deliberation shortly.

[Pooneh] I'm hoping we'll have an answer today.

If it goes to tomorrow, it's not going to be good,

like, I'm going to be throwing up.

It's not an easy case, Pooya.

It is an awful case actually, because you're going up

-against an 87 year old... -I know, I know

...with no attorney, who's pretending to be decrepit,

-and it's an awful case for me. -I know, but the evidence--

doesn't matter. This is not an easy case.

-You're right it is a tough-- -Yeah, you've got--

Just trying to be optimistic.

If I didn't have dad's conviction,

this would be an easy case, but the conviction

really has a massive impact on this,

and the jury could believe that the conviction was fine,

which means Viktor Pell is not the killer.

[Judge] Thank you. Please be seated.

[Pooya] I could feel the anxiety coming in

because I thought, man, all this work

that my sister has put into this,

so much, so many years,

and for them to get up there and not tell us some good news,

was gonna be absolutely devastating for me

and definitely for Pooneh.

[Judge] I understand, from the bailiff,

that the jury has reached a verdict.

[Pooneh] I remember looking down, and going

can the jury see my heart?

I was beyond stressed.

I hadn't slept all night and I was worried,

because it essentially was 30 years of work,

being handed over to them, to make a decision.

[Judge] In the matter of the estate

of Eftekhar Entezari Afshar

through the personal representative

of Pooneh Entezari, and Pooya Entezari,

plaintiffs, versus Viktor Pell,

we the jury answer the question,

"Did defendant, Viktor Pell,

cause Eftekhar Entezari Afshar's death?"

Answer, "yes".

[soft music]

[Pooya] It was the best day of my life,

and definitely for my sister as well.

[laughs] Yeah

[Pooneh] Honestly, I think I'm still in shock

It hasn't quite set in yet.

I've worked so hard for this day... for 35 years,

that I can't, mean I just can't believe it's over.

It was a good day for my mom.

And actually my dad too!

The jury had to believe that my dad

didn't commit the crime, to be able to say someone else did.

[Pooya] I really wish that he could've seen that.

So, uh, if he's upstairs looking down, I hope he is,

and maybe that's enough.

-It's a wonderful day! -[laughter]

It's a beautiful day!

[Pooneh] I'm very happy!

If this isn't a dream and it's real,

I'm very happy.

[uplifting music]

[man] This year's champion of justice

comes to us from Clark County,

where she has spent more than 30 years,

relentlessly, pursuing justice for her mother's 1989 murder

in Vancouver, Washington.

The Washington Innocence Project Board of Directors

is proud to recognize, Pooneh Gray,

as this year's recipient

of the Jackie McMurtrie Champion of Justice Award.

-Welcome, Pooneh. -[applause]

[Pooneh] Thank you so much for this award.

We were on a last flight out of Iran,

before the Revolutionary guards raided and shut down the airport

I still remember the fear in my parents eyes.

We thought we were safe.

Leaving a system that wrongfully imprisoned people,

under the pretense of justice,

only to encounter a system, here in the United States,

that does the same.

For decades, the state tried to block me, but through perseverance,

a jury found the real killer liable

for my mother's murder.

[cheering and applause]

The fight is not over. The fight is just beginning.

Today, more than ever, unjust behavior can be seen

all over the world and in our communities.

We can no longer stand by and watch entire classes of people

being dismissed, marginalized,

and unjustly treated.

I promise, I will continue to fight.

My father... didn't live to see this day,

but I hope, that both my parents are proud of our achievements

and will continue to be the guiding force behind me

as we take this work into the future and fight for change.

[applause]

[dramatic music]