NEARLY 8 YEARS AFTER KEVIN SMITH WAS ARRESTED ON DRUG
CHARGES IN NEW ORLEANS, AN APPEALS COURT FOUND HE SHOULD BE
RELEASED, AND THAT THE CASE WAS DISMISSED AFTER PROSECUTORS
VIOLATED HIS RIGHT TO A SPEEDY TRIAL.
BECAUSE HE WAS ARRESTED
EIGHT YEARS PRIOR, BUT HE WASN'T CONVICTED EIGHT YEARS PRIOR,
HE'S NEVER BEEN CONVICTED OF ANYTHING.
HE JUST SPENT ALL THAT
TIME IN JAIL.
THAT WAS LAST FALL, BUT EVEN UNTIL RIGHT NOW
THERE STILL HAS NOT BEEN JUSTICE, HE'S STILL IN PRISON TO
THIS DAY.
THIS IS AN INCREDIBLE STORY THAT THANKFULLY I SAW
SHAWN KING HAS BEEN DOING SOME DIGGING ON THIS AND TRYING TO
GET THE WORD OUT TO GET SOMETHING LIKE JUSTICE BECAUSE
AS IT LOOKS LIKE NOW, KEVIN SMITH MIGHT SPEND YEARS MORE IN
JAIL FOR A CRIME HE HASN'T BEEN CONVICTED OF.
BUT I WANT TO WALK YOU BACK THROUGH THIS STORY TO SEE HOW
JUSTICE HAS BEEN SO PERVERTED IN THE CASE OF KEVIN SMITH --
THE
ADDRESS SEEMS LIKE IT COULD BE CONFIRMED AFTER
EIGHT YEARS, MAYBE NOT --
BECAUSE HE
THEORETICALLY COULD HAVE DONE SOME COCAINE?
THAT BY ITSELF, IF THAT WAS THE ONLY THING HERE THAT WOULD SEEM
LIKE A HUGE PERVERSION OF WHAT SHOULD BE JUSTICE IN THIS
COUNTRY, BUT IT GOES WORSE THAN
THAT --
PROBABLY BECAUSE HE FEELS LIKE HE DIDN'T COMMIT THE CRIME
HE ALREADY SPENT YEARS IN PRISON FOR --
SO
IT SOUNDED LIKE FINALLY THERE WOULD BE JUSTICE AT THAT
POINT, BUT THERE HAS NOT BEEN.
THANKFULLY THE FAMILY OF KEVIN
SMITH REACHED OUT TO SHAWN KING I BELIEVE ON INSTAGRAM
ACTUALLY, WHICH IS INTERESTING, THAT'S THE MODERN WORLD WE
LIVE IN, AND SAID THIS --
WHICH IS, NOT FOR NOTHING, A PRIVATE PRISON WITH A PROFIT
MOTIVE TO KEEP HIM IN THERE AS LONG AS POSSIBLE.
AND THE REASON THEY ARE HOLDING HIM IS BECAUSE HE DIDN'T
CHANGE AN ADDRESS OR SOMETHING, SOME RIDICULOUS CLERICAL THING.
THERE IS NO WRONGDOING THAT HAS BEEN PROVEN ASSOCIATED WITH THIS
STORY, IT'S OBSCENE ON SO MANY LEVELS.
AND YOU ARE RIGHT, AT
THE END OF IT HE IS SHOVED INTO A PRIVATE PRISON WHICH IS
CLEARLY ASSOCIATED WITH PROFIT.
BUT IT'S HEARTBREAKING TO SEE
THIS YEAR AFTER YEAR, AND THE FAMILY OF KEVIN SMITH IS
BEGGING FOR SOME KIND OF JUSTICE, THERE CAN BE NO
JUSTICE NOW, THIS IS A LIFE STOLEN.
AGAIN, EVEN IF -- THE DEAL TO PLEAD GUILTY AND YOU GET
RELEASED FOR TIME SERVED, THEY ALREADY DRAGGED HIM AND
THEREFORE SOME OTHER PREVIOUS CRIME, I'M NOT SURE WHAT IT WAS.
THE COCAINE?
NO, THAT -- THE PRIOR -- WE WILL DRAG YOU IN BECAUSE THERE
IS SOMETHING PRIOR.
IF YOU SAY YOU PLEAD GUILTY TO THIS, YOU
HAVE SERVED EIGHT YEARS FOR IT, THINK ABOUT IT WHEN YOU'RE FREE,
YOU HAVE IT ON YOUR RECORD BECAUSE YOU PLED GUILTY.
THEN
SAY IN THE FUTURE THEY WANT TO ROUND YOU UP AGAIN, YOU PLED
GUILTY TO SOMETHING IN 2018 THAT YOU SERVE THIS TIME FOR, WHAT
DID YOU DO THEN?
THAT DOESN'T GET PUT IN AS AN ASTERISK, THAT
HE PLED GUILTY SO HE COULD GET OUT, IT'S THAT YOU PLED GUILTY
BECAUSE HE DID THIS.
KNOW YOU ARE A PARIAH, ALL THAT IS
ADMITTED.
THAT'S ANOTHER REASON YOU SAY I'M NOT GOING TO AGREE
TO YOU JUST ROUNDING ME UP AND CONTINUING TO DO THIS.
SO IN
RESPONSE TO THAT YOU TAKE THAT AS AN INSULT, AS A PROSECUTOR,
WE HEARD ABOUT THE PLIGHT OF PROSECUTORS LIKE, WE AREN'T
GOING TO LET THIS GUY OUT, WE WILL CONTINUE TO DRAG THIS
THROUGH THE LEGAL SYSTEM AND KEEP HIM LOCKED UP UNTIL HE
UNDERSTANDS WE CONTROL HIM.
FOR NO REASON.
LAST THING, I HEARD
MICHAEL CAPUTO, PART OF THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN, KEEPS
COMPLAINING ABOUT THESE LEGAL FEES, HE'S ON THE TUCKER CARLSON
SHOW COMPLAINING ABOUT IT BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT PEOPLE
USUALLY WHO HAVE BEEN DRAGGED THROUGH THE LEGAL SYSTEM HAVE TO
DO, IS GO ON TUCKER CARLSON AND COMPLAIN ABOUT IT, I HAVE TERESA
GO FUND ME PAGE, MY KIDS CAN'T GO TO COLLEGE BECAUSE I'M PAYING
ALL THESE LEGAL FEES BECAUSE I WAS ASSOCIATED WITH A CRIME
ADMINISTRATION, THIS GUY IS COMPLAINING ON TV ABOUT IT,
WHILE THIS MAN IN LOUISIANA, KEVIN SMITH, IS SITTING IN JAIL,
HE'S NOT ON TV COMPLAINING ABOUT HOW HE'S GETTING RUN THROUGH THE
LEGAL SYSTEM AND HAS NO WAY TO PAY FOR IT.
WE ARE LISTENING TO
GUYS LIKE MICHAEL CAPUTO, AND I CAN'T SAY THE WORDS I WANT TO
ABOUT HIM, COMPLAIN ON TV ABOUT IT.
BUT THIS IS OUR LEGAL SYSTEM
PROVIDING ONE PERSON WITH A VOICE AND NOTHING FOR ANYONE
ELSE.
HE'S GOING TO BE IN PRISON UNTIL 2022.
YOU ARE RIGHT, THERE IS PROSECUTORIAL EGO AND AGGRESSION
THAT IS UNCHECKED AND CONTINUES TO BE SORT OF BAKED INTO THE
SYSTEM.
YOU KNOW THE REASON THEY WANT HIM TO PLEAD GUILTY FOR
TIME SERVED IS BECAUSE THEIR NUMBERS ARE HELPED BY THAT,
THAT'S A CHECK.
WE WERE ABLE TO GET A CONFESSION AND ADMISSION
OF GUILT IN THAT CASE.
IT IS WRONG AND I'M SO GLAD THAT JAYAR
MENTIONED THE RIPPLE EFFECT WHEN IT COMES TIME TO RECONSTITUTE
YOUR LIFE.
NOW YOU OUT OF PRISON AFTER EIGHT YEARS, HOW ARE YOU
GOING TO RESTART YOUR LIFE?
IT'S HARD ENOUGH, YOU HAVE BEEN
BEHIND ON EVERYTHING FROM TECHNOLOGY TO YOUR FAMILY LIFE.
YOU HAVE NO GROUP OF FRIENDS, YOU HAVE NO CONNECTIONS TO HELP
YOU BEGIN ANY KIND OF PROFESSIONAL RELATIONSHIPS THAT
MIGHT BE ABLE TO BEGIN TO BUILD AN ECONOMIC VIABILITY TO YOUR
LIFE.
ADD TO THAT YOU PLED GUILTY TO A FELONY?
IT MAKES TOTAL SENSE THAT HE WOULD PUSH BACK ON THAT,
AND YET IT ALSO MAKES SENSE THAT THIS SYSTEM WILL ALLOW IT.
IT COULD BE THAT IF HE DIDN'T PLEAD GUILTY AND EVENTUALLY THEY
FIND THAT HE WAS HELD ALL THESE YEARS FOR NOTHING, MAYBE
THEY HAVE TO PAY HIM SOME MONEY OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT.
BUT IF YOU CAN GET HIM TO PLEAD GUILTY YOU ARE PROBABLY
ABSORBED OF ANYTHING LIKE THAT.
QUICKLY ON THE PAYING MONEY, THEY ALSO DO THAT DOCK THEY I
HAD A GUY ON MY PODCAST, 23 YEARS BEHIND BARS, FALSELY
CONVICTED OF MURDER, HE WAS EXONERATED TO THE INNOCENCE
PROJECT, AND THEN THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA HAS HELD UP
COMPENSATING HIM FOR MORE THAN 10 YEARS, HE STILL DOESN'T HAVE
HIS MONEY.
WHAT IS THAT?
BECAUSE AGAIN THAT'S PROSECUTORIAL
AGGRESSION, THEY WANT -- THEY DON'T WANT TO WRITE THAT CHECK,
CALIFORNIA, EVEN KNOWING HE'S INNOCENT.
AND WE FORGET ABOUT IT, WE DON'T KEEP HEARING THAT STORY.
WE HEARD HE WAS AWARDED $1.5 MILLION, BUT YOU NEVER HEAR THE
END OF THE STORY.