All language subtitles for Death Row Stories S01E06 Kris Maharaj Murder in Miami

On this episode of Death Row Stories,

a millionaire is accused of brutal murders

in a downtown Miami hotel.

The crime scene was a bloody, bloody mess.

But after a death sentence, one man

fights to save his life.

- You go into Federal Court and say,
"My guy's innocent", - and they say,

- "Well, too bad, mate, that's got nothing
- to do with it."

And what he discovers will turn

the case upside down.

Anybody in the world would say,
"What? That's not allowed."

There were a series of questions
that should've been asked.

This case has more
evidence that was covered up

than any other case I
have ever seen in decades.

There's a body in the water.

He was butchered and murdered.

Many people proclaim their innocence.

- In this case,
there were a number of things - that stank.

This man is remorseless.

He needs to pay for it with his life.

The electric chair
flashed in front of my eyes.

Get a conviction at all costs,
let the truth fall where it may.

A double homicide was discovered

at the Dupont Plaza
Hotel in downtown Miami.

This was a very sensational crime.

How many times do you
have a double homicide in

a downtown Miami hotel?

The crime scene was a bloody, bloody mess.

The father was shot six times while he was

crawling, trying to escape.

The son was shot, "execution style."

So, this was a pretty shocking case.

The dead men were Derrick Moo Young,

a father of four,

and his youngest son,
Duane, who had just been

accepted to law school.

A few hours after the shootings,
a journalist

named Neville Butler

contacted police saying he'd seen his boss,

47-year-old Kris Maharaj, pull the trigger.

Our big break was when
we received a telephone call

that there was an individual
by the name of Neville Butler

that wanted to speak to us.

Butler described the crimes in painstaking

detail to Buhrmaster.

Kris opened the door
and came out with a gun

in hand, with a glove on.

And that's when I almost passed out.

When I asked Kris, "What on earth is this?"

He says, "keep out of this."

That's when he fired the first shot,
at his leg.

Moo Young dashed at him
and that's when Kris must have

let go four or five bullets.

- The television that was there, the
lamp and everything - had all been shot up.

- The screen of the television had
been destroyed - from the bullet.

He turned his attention now to the son,

he said, "Come with me."

And he took him up the stairs

and told him, "Kneel down, face the wall."

And then,
the next thing I heard was "boom".

He shot the boy in the back of his head.

Kris Maharaj was a wealthy
importer from England

who'd started a newspaper
business in Miami.

He was quickly charged with two counts

of first-degree murder

The maximum sentence? The death penalty.

It didn't look too good for Kris.

The lead detective, John Buhrmaster,

said that he had denied
ever being in room 1215

- while his fingerprints were all
over the place - so that was a lie.

Kris denied ever having a gun,
he clearly did have

a 9 mm pistol.

- The ballistics expert came in and said that's
the type of gun - that was used for this murder.

He had invested in property

and Derrick Moo Young
was supervising that property.

According to Kris,
Derrick had stolen $441,000,

had just embezzled it.

So, Kris had had a motive, he clearly hated

the Moo Youngs, and finally,

the icing on the cake
was their star witness,

Neville Butler.

Kris' case went to trial.

In court,
the defense presented no alibi witnesses,

and Kris never took the stand.

Ron Petrillo was the defense investigator

on the case.

I knew when I heard all of this going on,

coming out of the jury room,

what the final outcome was going to be.

The jury returned guilty
verdicts in less than

four hours.

And then when it went to the penalty phase,

judge gave him the death sentence.

During his ruling, the judge declared that,

"The coldness and calculated manner

in which the defendant
executed his heinous plan

cannot be overstated."

Kris would officially begin
his time on death row.

I said, "God knows I'm innocent.

"They will not kill me, they cannot."

Kris was from England, a country

that had abolished

the death penalty for murder in 1965.

With one of their citizens on death row,

the British government
asked Clive Stafford Smith

to investigate Kris' case.

Clive was a young, idealistic lawyer

who'd made a name for himself
fighting death penalty cases

on a pro bono basis.

By the time I got there in '94,

he'd been sentenced to death,

- he'd gone up to the Florida Supreme Court
- on appeal,

To the U.S. Supreme Court,
and come back down,

and so my first thought was,

"Oh, my goodness,
how did I let myself in for this?"

Despite his reluctance, Clive agreed

to meet with the man

he presumed was guilty.

- I never talk to people, when I first
meet them, - about "Did you do it?"

They don't know you, they don't trust you.

Though,
Kris was one of those quite rare people

who insisted on giving me an A to Z lecture

about the fact that he didn't do it.

And, you know,
I found that quite convincing, although,

I will say the evidence against him was

pretty strong at the time.

As a former cop,
Ron Petrillo also had doubts

about Kris' innocence

when he joined the case.

Initially,
I thought Kris just killed these guys.

But I'm looking to see
where the evidence takes me

and it didn't add up.

The deeper I got into the investigation,

it began to dawn on me
that Kris was innocent.

Ron was very,
very loyal to Kris and he carried on

after the case was over,

even though he wasn't
being paid or anything.

Ron and Clive noticed discrepancies

in the prosecution's story of the murders,
and set out

to look for answers.

I demanded to see the
files of the prosecutor

and of the police.

- I start going through it, and I'm sitting
there with some - extraordinarily bad coffee,

In the police headquarters
going through this

very carefully, tabbed file.

I discovered that Neville Butler,

the star witness,

failed his polygraph test.

- I discovered notes that showed that the
Police knew that - Kris had lost his gun

Before the murders ever took place.

This case has more
evidence that was covered up

than any other case
I've ever seen in decades.

Just a year before Kris Maharaj

was put on death row

for the murders of Derrick
and Duane Moo Young

in Florida,

he'd been living a life
of luxury in England.

Kris had come to England
when he was quite young,

worked incredibly hard,
and become a millionaire.

In England, Kris married and had four kids

while working his way
up from a truck driver

to a business magnate.

He was a very flamboyant millionaire

here in London.

He had got his Rolls-Royce,

and then,
he began to get into horse-racing.

Kris amassed the second biggest stable

of race horses in England

Only the Queen owned more.

Having emigrated from Trinidad,

Kris also mingled with
members of parliament,

gaining entrance into an upper crust,

lily-white society,

rarely available to immigrants of color.

Kris first met the men he'd been

accused of killing.

When he began importing
their fruit from Jamaica.

After years of doing business together,

Derrick Moo Young asked
Kris to invest in houses

he was building in Florida.

But according to Kris,

the Moo Youngs took his money,
and embezzled it.

They also incorporated as KDM Distributors,

a name eerily similar to Kris' company

and allegedly started drawing money

from Kris' accounts.

According to Kris,
Derrick had stolen property

worth $441,000.

So you could see why
Kris would be very angry.

He wanted to put an end to this.

Kris was used to settling
disputes with words,

not weapons.

He sued the Moo Youngs and told Clive

he expected to win.

But if Kris then had little reason to walk

into the Dupont hotel

with a loaded weapon,

why was there so much evidence
pointing to him as a suspect?

According to Kris,
he went to the Dupont at 9:30 a.m.

on the morning of the murders

to meet a potential business
partner for the newspaper

he'd started in Miami.

- Neville Butler, the man who would
claim to see Kris - commit the murders,

Set up the meeting.

But the man Kris was
supposed to meet was not there.

The two men waited for nearly an hour.

At 10:30, Kris drove 25 miles

to Fort Lauderdale

and attended meetings during the hours

when the murders took place

and he could prove it.

Kris had alibi witnesses
including an employee at his

newspaper named Tino Geddes.

Tino Geddes swore to me

that he had been with Kris,
gone on lunch, stayed by Kris.

The manager at a
restaurant Kris frequented,

also clearly remembered
seeing Kris at lunch.

I know I saw Kris the day of the murders

because there was a person who was sick,

and I needed to come in
and fill in for that person.

It doesn't seem like
there's any way possible

that he could've killed
people at 12 o'clock

and then been in for lunch

sometime between 12:00 and 2:00.

Five other witnesses would come forward

placing Kris with them
on the day of the murders.

I haven't any doubt at
all that I saw him that day.

So that was 12:00, 12:30, within that time.

Yet Neville told Miami
PD homicide detective,

John Buhrmaster

a convincing account of
seeing Maharaj commit

the murders in cold blood.

Someone had to be lying.

Butler was a home run for police.

Not only could he identify Maharaj,

he would go on to lead Detective Buhrmaster

to where he and Kris
planned to meet for dinner.

Kris would be taken for interrogation

and stark differences would
emerge about what was said

during that conversation.

John Buhrmaster said that Kris denied

ever being in room 1215

while his fingerprints
were all over the place.

Kris' fingerprints
would only be significant

if he denied being in the room to police.

Buhrmaster also said that
Kris denied ever having a gun.

He clearly did have a 9 mm pistol.

But if Buhrmaster thought Kris was

trying to hide something,

he never took a sworn statement

during the interrogation
to document that fact.

And a lie detector test
Kris took later that evening

would support Kris' version of events.

They had one of the top polygraph

examiners

in Florida do these tests.

Kris passed.

That was plain and simple.

Despite passing the lie detector and having

numerous alibi witnesses,

Kris was booked and held without bail.

It would be a year before
he'd get his day in court.

On the eve of trial,
Kris and his investigator,

Ron Petrillo

felt good about their chances.

Kris had seven or eight alibis.

I had located people and
gotten sworn statements

that put him squarely in Broward County

some 25 miles away

during the time that
these murders occurred.

But with his trial approaching,

Kris got word that one of his key alibis,

Tino Geddes,

was about to change his story.

Everything that Tino had said,

that he was with Kris,

that Kris was in Broward
County when murders took place,

it was all a lie, according to Tino.

Geddes was now going to testify

for the prosecution.

And no one, including Kris,

was prepared for the accusations

Geddes was about to make.

Kris Maharaj was facing the death penalty

for the murders of Derrick
and Duane Moo Young

when shortly before trial,
Tino Geddes, one of Kris'

key alibi witnesses

had a dramatic change of heart.

Tino Geddes worked for Kris

at a newspaper that Kris owned.

From day one, he swore to me

that he had been with Kris.

Now, Tino has changed his story,

on the day that the murders were committed,

he wasn't with Kris,

Kris wanted the Moo Youngs dead.

Tino was now claiming Kris' actions

in the murders

had been premeditated.

John Rattlesnakes was a
prosecutor on Kris' case.

Mr. Geddes told us that he,
in fact, had been

with Krishna Maharaj

- on several other occasions
when he'd tried to - kill the victims

And members of their family.

And that, in fact, that Krishna Maharaj

soul motive in life

- at that point in time was the death of
- Derrick Moo Young.

Tino'd said that Kris had done a dry run at

the Dupont Plaza Hotel with him

where he had prepared
to murder the Moo Youngs

And Kris was going to
burst through from room

404 to room 406 to do it.

I went to the Dupont Plaza Hotel,

- there's no door between 404 and 406, there
are all sorts of - reasons why Tino was lying.

The question was why.

Why do you think Geddes changed his story?

Tino Geddes had a DUI trial coming up,

and he was also being charged for smuggling

guns and ammunition.

He was smuggling a whole bunch of guns

into Jamaica

at a time when there were very,
very harsh sentencing.

My experience is the
vast majority of people,

when they face life in prison,

- are willing to say what the prosecution
wants them to - say about pretty much anything,

And probably about their grandmother.

In Tino Geddes' misfortune, the prosecution

sensed an opportunity

and flew to Jamaica to
help their new witness.

Paul Ridge and John Kastrenakes

went to testify on his
behalf and got him off.

With, I think,
just a fine instead of doing jail time.

And I thought, "Well, okay, they're

doing their job."

Until I found out they and
Tino went to a strip club.

- A lot of people would say, "Well,
what they do - on their own time

"is their own business."

But they are there on my dime as a taxpayer

testifying on behalf of
this man and they go to

a strip club with him?

Yeah,
I'd say that they got a little too close.

Kris' trial began on October 5, 1987.

Almost exactly one year
after the murders occurred.

It was presided over by Judge Howard Gross,

known to friends as "Mousey"

because of his small frame and large ears.

Kris' attorney was Eric Hendon

who'd helped other accused killers

avoid the death penalty.

During opening arguments,
the prosecution contended

that the Moo Youngs

were innocent businessmen
gunned down by Kris,

the cold-blooded killer.

Eric Hendon told the jury they would hear

fictional stories from the prosecution

worthy of a Hollywood drama.

But on the third day of trial,
the proceedings came to

a sudden halt.

- What happened on day three of the trial,
- if you can believe it,

Is that Howie the Mouse, doesn't show up

because he's been arrested

taking kickbacks in another case.

And he'd been caught by
law enforcement agents posing

as drug dealers of all people.

Mousey's removal was a golden opportunity

for Kris' lawyer, Eric Hendon

to call for a mistrial.

With the new trial,
Hendon would know the prosecution's

arguments ahead of time.

Without a new trial,
the judge replacing Mousey could face

deciding a death sentence

without hearing all the evidence.

"My advice to you is
not to ask for a mistrial."

And he said they would go on with the trial

because he felt he had made some headway

and they had a good jury.

Why would he do this?

Probably, the main motivation
was that he was on a set fee

and you're going to
have to start over and that

cuts into your fee.

Hendon would maintain he'd worked hard

on behalf of his client,

but letting the trial continue
seemed like an unusual choice

and the jury would go on to hear

six days of testimony,

all directed against Kris.

- Neville Butler testified about
the graphic details - of the murders

He said he'd watched Kris commit.

Tino Geddes told
prosecutors Kris had asked him

to fabricate an alibi.

And Detective John
Buhrmaster said Kris had tried to

cover up the crime

during his interrogation.

- When the case was finally turned over
- to the defense, Hendon's judgment would,

Again, come into question.

Eric said to me that if he
didn't call any witnesses,

he would have two shots at the jury

in closing argument.

I said to him,
"But you're not going to do that."

I've got all these witnesses.

"You're not going to do that.",
he didn't answer me.

Eric Hendon's defense case for Kris would

consist of only nine words.

Eric stood up and said, "Your honor,

the defense rests."

Eric didn't call a single witness. Nothing.

I thought Kris was going to rip the skin

off my forearm.

It's not often in a capital case you get

- six alibi witnesses putting your client
- somewhere else.

Why on earth did the
lawyer not put those on?

I have never wanted to
hit another human being,

physically attack

another human being like I did that day

with Eric Hendon.

The jury responded to Hendon's strategy

by returning guilty verdicts
for two first-degree murders.

They would also vote whether
to recommend the death penalty.

And with Florida being
the only remaining state

where a simple majority
is needed in sentencing,

the vote in favor of death
passed by a count of 7 to 5.

The judge who'd replaced Mousey agreed.

Kris would be sentenced
to die in the electric chair.

Kris fainted,

Kris hit the floor,

passed, passed out completely.

When Clive finally got the chance to appeal

Kris' case in 1995,

he immediately set out to
present all the alibi witnesses

who were never called at trial.

Yeah, I talked to the alibi witnesses,

they were very convincing.

And they said, "It's true, Kris was not at

the Dupont Plaza hotel

"at 12:00 noon that day
because he was with us

"out in Ft. Lauderdale."

But Kris' alibis fell on deaf ears

as the courts would only
consider whether Kris had

received a fair trial in 1987.

- It's actually very hard to win a case
on just saying - the facts are wrong.

Mostly,
it's all about what people disparagingly

called legal technicalities.

But Clive did have an opening.

If he could show Kris' attorney,
Eric Hendon,

had been ineffective in representing Kris,

he would open the door to a new trial

and new witnesses.

Ben Kuehne also worked
on Kris' appeals and would

cross-examine Hendon.

Eric Hendon was over his head at that time.

He needed help in a case of this magnitude.

And Kris just suffered the consequences

as a result of his lawyer's errors.

But Hendon needed to admit under oath

that he'd made mistakes.

- And when Ben asked him
why he didn't present - Kris' alibis,

Hendon told the court,
"It appeared to me as if

these were alibi witnesses

who had been sought out,
it seemed all too convenient."

In other words,
Hendon didn't believe any of Kris' alibis.

How is one lawyer going to be the judge

of the credibility of a witness

who could be the key
to a not guilty verdict?

That's not a decision for a lawyer to make.

Not with the stakes this high.

Hendon said he had a strategic reason

for not putting on the alibi.

He thought the alibi was too good.

Now, once a lawyer says that,

then it takes it out of the realm of

the lawyer's ineptitude

- and then becomes a strategic decision
- by the lawyer

That the courts won't second guess.

Ultimately, the court disagreed

with Clive and Ben,

refusing to find that Eric Hendon

had been ineffective.

Clive was still convinced Kris was innocent

and while preparing further appeals,
he came across

the prosecution's files

and discovered evidence
he felt police and prosecutors

apparently did not want Kris to have.

- I start going through it,
and I discovered - that the police knew

- that Kris had lost his gun before
the murders - ever took place,

I discovered that Kris
had actually told them

from the very beginning
he had been in room 1215,

so all those fingerprints,
there was a perfectly

innocent explanation.

Clive had also seen photographs

from the crime scene

of a briefcase belonging to the Moo Youngs.

The contents were something
Ron Petrillo had requested

to see before Kris' trial.

I went into the detective bureau,

Buhrmaster was too busy to see me,
and he sent

the young girl out,

and I opened the briefcase and it's empty.

And I said to her,
"Where are the contents?"

and she said that Detective Buhrmaster

told her to tell me

that he didn't find anything
of any evidentiary value

and returned the contents to the family.

Buhrmaster had said they had gotten rid of

the Moo Youngs' briefcase.

That wasn't true.

- Here, in the file were hundreds of
pages of notes - of the Moo Youngs.

There's all sorts of intriguing stuff,

it's like Christmas, really.

Far from being the, sort of,
innocent people making

$24,000 a year

that they were portrayed at trial,

the Moo Youngs, they were offering

loans around the Caribbean

to the tune of first $100 million,

then $250 million.

This is just extraordinary stuff.

- They didn't have a pot to
piss in or a windo - to throw it out.

Where were they coming
up with $100 million?

Shortly before their deaths, Derrick

and Duane Moo Young

also took out over a million dollars worth

of life insurance.

The company that issued those policies

found the timing suspicious

and hired an attorney to investigate.

Theoretically,
the Moo Youngs were engaged in

import-export business.

But the Moo Youngs'
headquarters which consisted

of a garage at the family home

only had left an old telex machine,
and no documents

whatsoever.

The more we learned about it,
it seemed that they were

either selling fictitious
goods entirely or they were

laundering the money.

But if the Moo Youngs were

involved in money laundering,

whose money were they laundering?

Those kinds of dollars
and narcotics often go

hand in hand in Miami,

particularly in the 1980s,
I think that's fair to say.

This was Miami in the '80s.

Do you know, I didn't really get that.

I didn't really understand
Miami in the '80s.

Say hello to my little friend!

Federal agents have seized 25,000 pounds

of cocaine.

In the early 1980s the
Moo Youngs were operating

in a city where drug smuggling
was bringing in an estimated

7 to 12 billion dollars a year.

The banks in Miami had more money

than all the other banks
in the country put together.

People were walking in and buying Mercedes

and Porsches for cash.

Miami could be described as the overseas

corporate headquarters

for money laundering for the Colombians.

With so much drug money at stake

cartel violence ballooned into
what would become known as

the cocaine wars.

And law enforcement
was quickly overwhelmed.

We had bank robberies,
kidnapping, extortion.

One of the guys shot
me through the fingers,

in the back of the arm.

- He was standing between my legs, I went
to kick him - and he shot me in the groin.

I figured he was going to kill me.

These drug dealers were the most violent,

desperate criminals

that we ever had in South Florida.

They'd see a pretty girl in a car,

- and they would rape and kill the girl
- and keep the car.

In 1980, Miami's homicide rate doubled

turning the city of sun and beaches

into the murder capital of the nation.

There have been so many murders throughout

greater Miami lately

- that a special refrigerated truck is
now being used - to store all the bodies.

It turned out that it
was a refrigerated truck

- that they had rented from Burger
King to hold - the overflow of bodies.

Clive was beginning to see the frame around

the picture of the murders.

- And he now wondered whether the
Moo Youngs - had found themselves

Caught in crosshairs of
Miami's cartel violence.

- Clive felt the road map to
Miami in the '80s - could be found

In the Moo Youngs' briefcase.

We'd figured out that the
Moo Youngs were laundering

money for the cartels.

They got greedy,
and they'd come up with this great plan

that they're going to skim
one percent of the money.

So, if you're ripping off
the Colombian drug cartels,

that's a slightly stronger motive

for you getting killed

than what was going on with Kris.

It totally re-framed the case.

Now, we have a huge alternative suspect.

A suspect that happened to be

staying in the room

directly across the hall from the murders.

Clive Stafford Smith had uncovered evidence

suggesting that before the
Moo Youngs were murdered

they may have been stealing money from

a Colombian drug cartel

and a photo Ron Portillo
had seen from the crime scene

would buttress Clive's theory.

When you look at the crime scene photos,

there were blood drops in the hall

and there was blood smear
on the door frame of 1214.

It begs the question, "Who was in 1214?"

Did you ultimately find out who it was?

Oh, yeah, I wound up bribing an employee,

and found out it was a guy named Mejia.

Jaime Vallejo Mejia

told police he was an importer-exporter

from Colombia.

- But the truth was Mejia would soon be busted
by the Drug - Enforcement Administration

For money laundering.

Detective Buhrmaster said,
"I chatted with him

for a few minutes,

"standing in the hallway,
and he didn't seem to

know anything."

This is the only other guy who's there,
the only other room

occupied on the twelfth floor.

We discover that Mejia
was wanted at the time

of Kris' trial

for conspiracy to take $14 million in cash

in a suitcase to Switzerland.

Former DEA agent, Dave Lorino had his own

opinion about Mejia.

- Jaime Mejia was involved in
the money laundering - business.

Not only was he working
for Escobar at the time,

but there was some money
being done for the Ochoa

organization as well.

Jaime told the police that he
ran an import-export company

and worked for U.S. insurance companies.

- That doesn't make any sense. People who sell
insurance don't - run an import-export business.

- And why was the blood on his
door if everything - that happened

Happened across the hall?

It doesn't add up.

- There were a series of questions that
should've been asked of him - that weren't asked.

Officers took a brief statement from

Jaime Mejia and let him go.

Would the jury at Kris' trial have found

an alternate explanation for the murders

if they had seen evidence
about the Moo Youngs

and Jaime Mejia?

- While preparing Kris' appeals, Clive pieced
together his own - theory of the scheme

That played out that day.

- And what happened was this in my mind,
- the Moo Youngs

Were laundering money for the cartels,

they started skimming money off the top,

they then got in trouble.

They were set up so that they would meet in

the Dupont Plaza Hotel

and Kris was meant to be there, too.

All three of them were meant to die.

It was then going to be
left as a murder-suicide

where you've got the
two guys you dislike killed

and you've got someone
else fingered for it.

Clearly, Neville Butler was there.

Somehow, Jaime Vallejo Mejia
must have been supervising it.

- But the courts weren't the least bit
- interested

In Clive's theoretical suspects
or the evidence he'd uncovered.

Innocence wasn't the issue.

One of the bizarre things
that I think most Americans

have no idea about

is that whether you are
innocent or not is not a legal issue.

- You go into a federal court on a habeas
petition and say, - "My guy's innocent."

- They say, "Too bad, mate,
that's got nothing - to do with it."

And the judge actually
said that in Kris' case.

- But Clive did manage to introduce
a document - into the proceedings

That the courts could not ignore.

A document showing Kris' death sentence

had been written by
someone other than Kris' judge.

I had seen a certain
amount of judicial corruption,

- and I find in the prosecution files,
orders sentencing - Kris to death

That were dated 13 days
before the sentencing hearing.

They were written by the prosecutor,

because it said JSK

and that's obviously John Kastranakes.

In allowing prosecutor John Kastrenakes

to write Kris' death sentence,

the Judge who replaced
Mousey had apparently decided to

impose the death penalty

before hearing Kris' character witnesses at

the sentencing phase of trial.

The judge asks the prosecutor,

"Would you prepare a
proposed sentencing order

imposing the death penalty?

"before the sentencing had been completed?"

Anybody in the world would say,
"What? That's not allowed."

The evidence was enough to vacate

Kris' death sentence.

He would no longer be scheduled
to die in the electric chair.

But Kris was far from a free man.

Clive and Ben would now argue for a more

lenient sentence for Kris

in front of a judge and
jury who could once again

sentence Kris to death.

This was not a trial
about innocence or guilt,

only the proper punishment
and Kris' wife would look on.

At the hearing,
the state brought back Kris'

familiar detractors,

Detective John Buhrmaster
and Neville Butler

who reconfirmed their original testimony.

What did you observe about him?

That he had a gun in one hand,
and a pillow in the other hand.

- The jury was not allowed to hear any of the new -
evidence Clive had discovered. But they did the listen to

24 character witnesses in support of Kris,

including Peter Bottomley,
Kris' friend from

the British parliament

who testified via satellite.

I like him, and I respect him.

I find him the kind of
person who I'm pleased to be

associated with.

Finally, after seven days of

emotional testimony,

- the jury would hand down a new
sentencing recommendation - for Kris.

The jury advises and recommends
to the court that it impose

a sentence of life imprisonment

without the possibility of parole for

the first 25 years.

The judge imposed a life sentence.

That saved Kris' life.

That, just meant he wasn't on

death row any more.

He's still going to die in prison.

Kris' appeals had gone
through the Florida courts

and the federal level

without so much as a
hearing about his innocence.

So the question remained,

"Why was there so much evidence that Kris

did not commit murders?"

As it turned out, one man had

an answer to that question,

a cop, who said he was
there the day of the murders

and knew all about them

because he helped cover them up.

Investigations will continue
in what is shaping up to be

the biggest police corruption scandal

in Miami's history.

While Miami police were
battling a crime wave

in the early 1980s,

a new enemy suddenly emerged.

Corruption within the ranks.

Particularly, in the early '80s,

Miami police rushed out

and made a lot of hirings without bothering

to look too deeply

at the peoples' backgrounds.

Already, 11 officers have been arrested

or relieved of duty this year.

They put in additional
background investigators.

And some of those people
were tied into the drug dealers.

The latest allegations go
beyond cocaine and cops

to charges now of first-degree murder.

We can just say that we are
trying to clean our own house.

Everybody that you thought you could trust,
you couldn't

trust any more in Miami.

As it turned out, one police officer

jailed for corruption

would hear about Kris' case

and tell Clive he knew what happened

because he was there.

I had started courting, that's probably

the only word for it

a witness who was within the police

who could tell the truth.

And this officer told me that the police

back in the 1980s

had a deal with the drug
dealers where they would

- protect the murderers who were going
around killing people - in these drug cases.

- They would frame someone else
for the crime - if anyone got onto it.

This officer told me, "Yeah,
yeah, Kris was framed.

"It was my former partner who did it,

"and he told me he'd done it."

It took Clive a full year to convince

the former cop,

who asked to be called Fred,
to go on the record,

and in a sworn statement,
Fred declared, "I was formerly

a police officer in Miami.

- I was persuaded by another prisoner
to tell what I know - about Kris Maharaj

To his lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith.

I do not expect to benefit from doing this.

I know the particulars of the Maharaj case.

Indeed, I visited the scene of
the crime when it happened.

I know that Mr. Maharaj
was framed because officers

investigating the double murder

told me flat out they
were going to do this.

I have a moral duty to help
free a man who had been framed

and imprisoned for 26 years

and spent many of those years on death row.

He could have be executed
or something he did not do."

While Fred may believe the
cops in Kris' case were on the take,

he has never identified
the individuals involved.

No evidence has ever
been presented in court

to substantiate his claim.

But, recently,
some of Clive's suspicions about

who killed the Moo Youngs

- were confirmed when he sent someone
to Colombia - to speak with the man

Who had been in the room across the hall

from the murders.

Jaime Vallejo Mejia was flanked by

four men with guns

when he confirmed the
Moo Youngs had run afoul

of Pablo Escobar's drug smuggling operation

in the 1980s,

and that he had said the Moo Youngs

had to be dealt with.

I visit Kris every week.

I don't tell people about Kris' case.

I don't discuss Kris'
case because if I tell them,

they will think I'm crazy.

He's not losing his hopes,
and, you know, that's good.

She is a blessing sent by God.

You cannot have a better husband.

Even now, that he's in prison

there's nothing he really can do for me.

But he has a lot of hope.

In 2008, Clive and Ben Kuehne submitted

a clemency appeal

to the governor of Florida

- documenting the actions of
police and prosecutors - in the case

And presenting the new
evidence they had found.

- And there was a very strong case for clemency, I
mean, Kris had - been in prison for over 20 years

Which is a long time to serve for anything.

I bet.

The victims' family showed up en masse.

- And it was Charlie Crist who
was the governor - at the time,

And he instantly denied clemency.

By now, Kris is 70 years old.

He's in bad health, his poor wife Marita

has stuck by him.

I've been representing
Kris now for 18 years.

And I've failed to get him justice.

The most culpable
character in Kris' scenario

is the justice system.

Because it's just not
interested in justice.

As we develop more and
more evidence to prove that,

a, he's innocent and,
b, had an unfair trial,