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1 I took my responsibility.

Nothing I can say or do could bring him back.

I messed up, you know, and

gotta man up and, you know, own up to your... actions.

I've been in prison over a decade already.

It's wrong. That's messed up.

I was a victim myself in this, you know?

And I can't... I can't do nothing about it.

I can't defend myself. I cannot say nothing.

As far as investigations go, it was what we call a cluster.

We had three defendants whose stories

continually changed.

All three of them initially claimed no knowledge of the incident,

no knowledge of a taxicab ride.

We had three guys who were downright allergic to the truth.

My name is Chucky Phillips,

and I've been sentenced to 20 to life for murder in the second.

I was born in Syracuse, New York.

Grew up playing sports.

I was definitely a jock in high school.

I was always the captain of the team, you know, whatever sport I played.

I had dreams of going to the NFL or MLB,

you know.

They were my dreams in those... Be a professional athlete one day.

It wasn't till, well, high school I started getting in trouble.

About freshman year,

I started hanging out with the wrong guys, you know.

After school, you know, running the streets.

You know, chasing after girls. There was a period I was in selling drugs,

at one point, uh...

Teenage boy stuff, you know?

I met Eduardo...

I would say maybe 2007.

He dated my sister. That's how we got cool.

All right.

My name is Eduardo Trinidad,

and I was convicted for murder, 40 years to life.

I was born in Puerto Rico, and I was also raised over there.

I grew up in a foster home 'cause my mom had passed.

My father wasn't never there for me.

I was really quiet, uh...

Always timid.

Um, but...

I mean, I wasn't a bad person at all.

I came out here to the United States for a better life.

I had, like, work in construction, um, mechanic.

I know plumbing, I know electricity.

Um, they called me a little MacGyver.

I did a little bit of everything around.

My main purpose that same night was because my son was born that night.

Um, I made it to Syracuse around,

I'd say eleven o'clock, around there, almost midnight.

So, the visiting hours in the hospitals are closed. I can't go there.

So, I went to Chu... I went with Chucky to the party.

Um, and like that, that's how I met the other guy, DeJesus.

I think the party was about ten to twelve people.

Wasn't no more than that.

In my part, I wanted to enjoy it 'cause, you know, I'm happy.

I was gonna have my newborn son,

and I wanted to celebrate that.

We did a lot of drinking, uh, mixing liquor,

beer, you know, various types of pills,

ecstasy, Xanax. There was marijuana there.

We was all pretty wasted.

One of the guys had a gun,

you know.

Even at the party, it was passed around the party.

The guys at the party wanted to hold it.

Everybody wanted to look at it and touch it.

The gun... Who brung it, I don't know.

I touched it, yeah.

I went outside,

trying to use it, but it didn't work.

Um, after that, I don't know who... who got it.

The owner of the apartment got mad and started kicking everybody out.

I was sitting behind the passenger.

DeJesus was in the middle, and Chucky Phillips was behind the driver.

Nobody was talking.

The only one that was doing the talking was me 'cause I was on the phone,

talking to, um, my kid's mom that's in the hospital.

When we get in the city, someone says, "Make a right, right here."

So we turn off the main road.

And I notice that's not my street.

That's when I said, "Okay,

we must be running because this is not my street."

You know, just... It was gonna be like not pay for a taxi ride, just run.

You know, young stupid kids' stuff, you know?

All I heard was the car going slow.

I didn't even know that the gun was in the cab when we left.

I see Denny take the gun, and he pulls it on the driver.

So I think maybe he's going to rob him.

The driver grabs the gun from him,

and there's a struggle.

So, I don't know why, I just... I grabbed it, and I yanked it from him.

And...

I shot him.

I was opening the door when I heard a boom.

I ran out of the car

and ran between some houses.

I came back down to see where was the guys,

and I didn't see the... the cab driver.

The car wasn't there anymore.

So, I thought that everything was cool and I went back to the house.

I went up the hill, went to the house, and they was already there.

In the morning was when they came and arrested us.

We all got arrested and got taken down to the prison.

My name is Ted Kiefer.

I was one of the investigators involved in the Timothy Gordon homicide.

I believe that this went from jumping the fare,

to a robbery,

ultimately to a murder.

After being shot,

Mr. Gordon traveled

about one mile.

And I believe he was in some sort of severe shock

with the trauma to his head,

being shot at close range.

Where he ended up was where, ultimately, we got involved initially.

The scene of his motor vehicle accident.

Mr. Gordon was traveling in this direction, towards us.

When he got to the intersection, he failed to stop at the stop sign,

or turn right or left.

As such, at a high rate of speed, he traveled across this street,

entered into this driveway here,

colliding with a parked vehicle.

It was a horrible, horrible crash.

And it was all the result of a senseless crime.

Timmy Gordon was just out trying to earn a living.

The fare he picked up couldn't have been more than a twenty dollar bill.

I guess the emotion is just the true senselessness of it.

The fact that for... for a ride home on a bitter cold night,

it cost this man who's out working,

not sleeping like the rest of civilization,

it cost him his life

for less than a 20 dollar bill.

It generates a lot of emotion.

When I first laid eyes on these defendants, all three of them,

I thought to myself, "These are little boys."

"They're young men at best."

I couldn't believe how young they appeared.

Mr. Trinidad was known to our gang violence task force.

They had a file on him.

They knew him by his nickname: Ba La.

Trinidad volunteers that Chucky Phillips and himself

are active members of the Latin Kings street gang.

Eduardo Trinidad placed all the blame on Denny DeJesus.

Chucky Phillips, he did the same.

So we had two people

placing all the blame on Denny DeJesus.

What shocked most of us investigating the case

was that these three so-called friends,

two of these friends were willing to throw the third friend under the bus

for something he didn't do.

Cop or no cop, in my opinion, that's pretty grimy.

Willing to throw somebody else's life away.

According to Trinidad, he was merely going to jump the fare,

but at some point during jumping the fare,

he was alerted by Chucky

to come back to the scene.

He could've kept on running. He got out of the cab and left.

He could have kept running. He didn't.

He turns, he goes back to the cab, and according to him,

he was going to help run the cabbie's pockets.

However, there was too much blood on the cabbie, and at the scene.

So any claims...

that Mr. Trinidad might have about being a passive observer,

according to his own statement, he wasn't.

Felony murder, a classic example would be the bank robbery.

Let's say multiple individuals decide to rob a bank.

One individual stays outside to actively be the lookout.

Other individuals go inside.

The gun is discharged, and an innocent security guard is killed.

All three people could be liable,

because they had the shared intent to rob the bank.

So, it is a way to hold all participants liable

for the death of another during the course of a felony.

My name is Kerry Buske. I was one of the assistant district attorneys

assigned to prosecute the case of the People of the State of New York

versus Chucky Phillips, Denny DeJesus, and Eduardo Trinidad.

Plea bargaining gets cases resolved.

From the prosecution standpoint,

they won't have to put their victim, their victim's family, their witnesses

through every single case,

and they can save resources.

In exchange for that guilty plea,

the People will often offer a reduced sentence, or a reduced charge.

Chucky Phillips did apologize.

He did show a degree of remorse and regret for this horrific action.

And that, I think, is reflective in his 20 to life sentence.

I was really surprised that Eduardo didn't want to try to negotiate something.

Maybe he didn't want to take exactly what we were offering,

but that he wasn't coming, trying to negotiate us down.

Even up to the morning of the trial,

I remember going in for jury selection thinking,

"I think he's probably gonna plea,

'cause the blood of the victim is on his coat,"

and he said he ran the pockets of the guy.

He was clearly notified of the potential ramifications

of what could happen after a conviction by jury.

He chose to not take that plea, to reject it,

and to take the case to trial. He's allowed to do that.

It is the People's burden to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt.

It was called upon us to do it. And we did it.

He was convicted of all three counts,

and he was sentenced by a county court judge.

Why I plead not guilty instead of plea bargain?

Because I wasn't gonna allow them

to try to have me say I'm guilty for something I didn't do.

We didn't participate together on it, you know what I'm saying?

Nobody pointed me as the guy who pulled the trigger.

Nobody.

I wasn't shocked, um, when I heard them say guilty, or whatever.

At first, I was... I didn't believe it.

I... I didn't have the feeling of believing it.

Hell... It's a decade lost already with my kids.

They're already grown-ups, um...

I lost all that part, um...

Um, that's pretty something like messed up, you know?

I feel very sorry for Timothy Gordon's family and friends.

I did not, at one point during this recording...

hear one mention... ...of a man's life that was innocently...

Um, an innocent man's life that was brutally taken from him.

He doesn't like the concept of felony murder.

He doesn't like the fact that he was held responsible,

even though he wasn't the shooter.

And he is angry at the law he was prosecuted under.

He mentions his own children.

You know, Timothy Gordon is never gonna get to have his children,

he's never gonna get to call home to them.

So this is essentially, in my opinion,

the same Ba La that stood up at sentencing

after a... jury found him guilty,

and said, "This is an injustice,

and I'm gonna fight it till the bitter end."

That's what he's doing. Um...

it's just a complete disregard for the evidence that was presented at trial,

and a complete disregard for a man's life that was lost.

I'm still trying to figure out to this day, like...

Why?

I can't even tell you the answer, like...

I wasn't in my right state of mind. Um...

It's hard to explain, because

I think it was a combination of alcohol and pills mixing, you know?

Worst mistake of my life. You know, I think about it every day.

You know, not only that I took a life, but I ruined my life.

The gun was Trinidad's. He brought it from Utica.

Just the lifestyle, the lifestyle he lived, you know.

I don't know if he needed it for protection or he just need...

He wanted it, just the lifestyle he lived.

You know, I... I took my responsibility.

My part's played. I pled guilty. People don't usually plead guilty.

I felt that it was the right thing to do, you know?

I feel bad for the parties involved, you know, like the deceased...

co-defendants.

Trinidad, his sentence blew my mind

'cause he got 40 to life for going to trial.

It's just... It don't make sense how...

if I pled guilty

and he went to trial,

he gets more time than me for the same crime.

It makes me believe that,

okay, I did the right thing with taking a plea deal,

because I would have had 40 to life. There's no question about that.

Denny has always been consistent

that he did not know there was going to be any shooting.

He had no concept that they were going to use the gun

that had been played with at the party.

I believe that Denny DeJesus did pay

for what Chucky Phillips and Eduardo Trinidad did.

However, the fact that Eduardo Trinidad is serving 40 years to life

and the shooter is serving 20 years to life,

this is one of the big injustices of the criminal justice system.

I'm not saying that Trinidad is innocent.

I'm saying that his sentence is hugely disproportionate.

The fact that he was guilty did not warrant

double the sentence of the shooter.

People are being penalized for exercising their right to a jury trial.

I do have a deeply ingrained sense of justice and fairness,

and plea bargaining goes against some of that grain.

Everybody accused of a crime in the United States

has the right to a fair trial by a jury.

And, if they are coerced into pleading guilty

by the fact that if they go to trial and they get found guilty,

they are going to get a much harsher sentence

than what they would get if they plead guilty,

it's... it's violating the Constitution.

I believe that equal sentences for Trinidad and Chucky Phillips

would have been completely appropriate.

Obviously, with plea bargaining there is going to be some disparity,

but... two times as much?

This case is just...

shouting...

..."Injust... Unjust result."

The name is Bill Walsh.

I was a county court judge in Onondaga County for 11 years.

My recollection of Eduardo Trinidad was that he was fairly aloof during the trial.

I can't remember how much he participated with his lawyer,

but I had the distinct feeling that he's what the Irish would call a hard man.

Uh...

What I heard during the trial

was just how cold and senseless the crime itself was.

It just didn't need to happen.

They could have taken the money and they could have left. But they didn't.

Mr. Gordon picked them up,

took them where they wanted, did everything that he was supposed to do,

and was rewarded with a bullet in the back of the head.

And that was just senseless.

Had Mr. Trinidad elected to plead guilty,

in all likelihood, his sentence would've been less,

because if he waives his right to appeal, that ends it.

Two co-defendants have already pled guilty,

uh, and that would've been the third, and it would've ended for the family.

They wouldn't have to have relived it a second time.

And I think that was very damaging to the family.

The anguish you could see on their faces was heartbreaking.

And I felt that he could have spared them that, and he did not.

And he was punished appropriately

with the maximum sentence permissible under the law.

He was sentenced to the maximum,

under the murder conviction,

of a minimum of 25 years and a maximum of life in prison,

and he received 15 years on the criminal possession of a weapons charge.

He could be sentenced consecutively, which I did.

So, uh... that was, uh...

It was a pretty sizable sentence.

I base my decision as to an appropriate sentence

on what I hear during the trial.

If you roll the dice, doesn't pay off,

there's a price to be paid for that.

Chucky with 20, and me with 40 to life.

I don't think that's fair.

My life's been destroyed.

I would have been going with my kids, trying to enjoy life.

Trying to give my kids things I never had...

Uh, parents.

I would have tried to give that to them, tried to break the cycle,

try to bring a better... My life with...

with our family, as well.

My earliest release for parole will be in 2047.

I think I'll be around 70 around that time.

It will be a whole wasted lifetime.

At that time, you won't be able to manage nothing. What can you do?

Well, it was interesting hearing from him.

I think that was the first time that I've really heard from him,

but, uh...

I would probably expect

that same, uh,

same type of speech from virtually any defendant that I sentenced

that wound up in jail after being convicted of a crime by a jury. Uh...

He maintains his innocence

and that doesn't come as much of a surprise, but, uh,

Mr. Trinidad elected to go to trial,

he was found guilty by a jury of his peers,

and he was sentenced accordingly.

And he absolutely deserves to be where he is today.

The shooting would not have happened

had not Mr. Trinidad given Mr. Phillips the gun.

Without that assistance, there would be no murder.

There would be no murder charge against either one of them.

It would've simply been a robbery.

But he chose

to assist Mr. Phillips in the taking of a human life,

and he is just as guilty as the fellow who pulled the trigger.

And I'm very comfortable with what I sentenced him to.

I chose to fight for my rights.

And I think everybody has the right to do that.

The system is broken.

And they're doing to people just like me, all the time.

All the time. Always.

We got to be real about that.

He goes back to the cab, and according to him,

he was going to help run the cabbie's pockets.

However, there was too much blood on the cabbie and at the scene.

No, it was not about running pockets or nothing, you know what I'm saying?

I was really worrying about what happened, you know what I'm saying?

I came running back down.

Yeah, and my intention was,

if there's nobody around who could help him, I'm gonna help him.

But he was gone.

So I thought it was all right.

I thought nothing really bad happened, you know what I'm saying?

Until I seen it on the news.

That's when my heart broke for real.

The gun was Trinidad's. He brought it from Utica.

Just the lifestyle, the lifestyle he lived,

you know.

I don't know if he needed it for protection or he just need...

He wanted it, just the lifestyle he lived.

No, um, I did come from Utica.

But not with a weapon. That weapon was already there.

That got nothing to do with me.

Trinidad's sentence blew my mind 'cause he got 40 to life for going to trial.

It just shows the justice system is unfair.

No, it wasn't fair at all.

I just came for my newborn son.

I came for my newborn son.

And didn't made it. Didn't made it, um...

I mean...

I know a lot of people... They're gonna look at it, like,

lied, or whatever the position is, but...

um, I just came to celebrate my son, to see him,

to hold him in my hand, you know?

At least to accomplish something that my dad didn't do.

And, um...

I guess I got a...

I didn't have the opportunity. I wasn't having enough luck for that.

I destroyed ten years of my life already on this.

Is this really justice?