#233 Jason Flom with Mark Denny

Wrongful Conviction

Lava for Good Podcasts

True Crime

4.6 • 5.7K Ratings

🗓️ 24 November 2021

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On December 20, 1987, at about 2 am, two masked men forced their way into a Burger King in Brooklyn, New York, as employees were closing. A third man entered the restaurant at some point, and they blindfolded and raped an 18-year-old female employee and forced a male employee to participate. The three assailants fled with $3,000 in cash. Both employees reported the crime as involving three assailants. But, two weeks later, when the police pulled over Mark Denny with two of the assailants, and the third assailant was identified, detectives convinced the female employee that there were actually four assailants. Despite a lack of physical evidence and the male employee's insistence that there were only 3 attackers, Mark was convicted and sentenced to up to 57 years. The 3 assailants eventually excluded Mark from the crime in sworn statements. But, it took an investigation by Brooklyn's CRU, to expose the corrupt identification process, setting Mark free after almost 30 years. To learn more and get involved, go to: https://lavaforgood.com/with-jason-flom Wrongful Conviction is a production of Lava for Good™ Podcasts in association with Signal Co No1.

Transcript

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0:00.0	At around 2 a.m. on December 20th, 1987, three young men, Rafael James, Eddie Vieira, and
0:09.1	Mark Smith held up a burger king in Brooklyn, where they blindfolded and raped a female
0:13.5	employee and forced a male employee to participate.
0:17.2	They left with $3,000 in cash.
0:20.4	Both survivors initially described three assailants.
0:23.6	Two weeks later, on January 8th, Rafael James and Mark Smith were on their way to a party
0:29.0	with Rafael's 16-year-old cousin, Mark Denney.
0:32.7	When the two men stopped the car outside of another store that they intended to rob, Mark
0:37.4	wanted no part of it.
0:39.3	While they argued, police pulled up, searched the car, and found a gun.
0:44.2	James and Smith were suspects in the December 20th incident, and Mark Denney became a suspect
0:49.4	by association.
0:51.6	Mark was bailed out of jail that night and ignored his cousin's request to raise bail
0:55.5	money, so out of spite, Mark's cousin named him as an assailant as well.
1:00.7	Even though the victims repeatedly said that there were only three assailants and had identified
1:05.0	Vieira Smith and James, the detectives pressured the female victim with a suggestive lineup
1:10.2	to change the number of assailants from three to four, and Mark Denney was ultimately
1:15.0	convicted.
1:17.0	Years later, Rafael James recanted, excluding Mark from the crime, but it took an investigation
1:22.7	by the Brooklyn CRU to reveal the corrupt identification process in which the female survivor
1:28.0	was revictimized.
1:30.9	Mark Denney was finally freed exactly 30 years from the date of the crime.
	...

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