#265 Jason Flom with Keith Bush

Wrongful Conviction

Lava for Good Podcasts

True Crime

4.6 • 5.7K Ratings

🗓️ 2 June 2022

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In the early morning hours of January 11, 1975, 14-year-old Sherese Watson was murdered by strangulation after leaving a house party in Bellport, New York, and her body was found that evening in a field near the party. There were groupings of small stab wounds in her back, and a hair pick was found near her body. Over 20 alibi witnesses placed 17-year-old Keith Bush in the house party at the time of Sherese's death, but one alleged partygoer, Maxine Bell, gave a statement that she would one day recant: that she saw Sherese and Keith leaving together after 1 AM. Ignoring a more compelling lead, Keith was tortured by detectives into signing a confession that he had not read which contained details that did not match reality. Keith recanted, but with the signed statement, Bell’s testimony, as well as detectives and a medical examiner who gave either false or erroneous testimony, Keith was convicted and sentenced to 20 years to life. To learn more and get involved, visit: https://www.trafford.com/en/bookstore/bookdetails/358402-POETIC-RAYS-VISIONARY-AND-MAGNETIC https://www.tiktok.com/@ktbush5?lang=en https://www.nyls.edu/post-conviction-innocence-clinic/ 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	The NSS Network is an informal collective of independent organizations that advocate on behalf of the wrongfully convicted and every year
0:07.6	They gather along with the growing number of those whom they've helped free
0:11.4	Our team was honored to join them for their 2022 gathering in Arizona
0:16.0	The stories we heard were both heartbreaking and inspiring and some of those incredible people were willing to record with us
0:23.0	On January 10th, 1975, there was an open house party in Suffolk County, Long Island, attended by 17-year-old Keith Bush and 14-year-old Sherees Watts
0:34.0	Over 20 alibi witnesses confirmed that Keith Bush was with them in the house around 130 a.m. when Sherees was believed to have gotten into a Red Sedan, never to be seen alive again
0:45.0	The following day, Sherees' parents, Frantic Search, for their daughter, included a visit to Keith Bush who had told them about how he'd last saw her inside the house party
0:54.0	Later that evening, her body was discovered in a field near that house having been strangled to death
0:59.0	Her pants were partially unzipped and there were multiple groupings of small puncture wounds on her back
1:04.0	Curiously, the wounds had not been blood
1:07.0	Biological material and clothing fibers were gathered from her fingernails and a hair pick was found to her body
1:12.0	Two witness statements emerged alleging that Keith was the last person to see him with Sherees
1:17.0	Ignoring a more promising lead, investigators instead tortured Keith in the police station until he relented and signed a statement he hadn't even read
1:26.0	It was a false confession riddled with inconsistencies, including an impossible hair pick stabbing scenario that said Keith way for 20 years to life
1:37.0	DNA testing, independent autopsies and witness recantations proved Keith's confession was false, yet Suffolk County authorities and the parole board were not so easily convinced
1:48.0	This is wrongful conviction
1:51.0	Welcome back to wrongful conviction. Here we're recording at the Innocence Network Conference in Phoenix and what you're about to hear combines junk science, a false confession, police and prosecutorial misconduct on a scale that is staggering
2:19.0	Lying witnesses and incentivized witnesses, it involves so many of the causes of wrongful convictions that we see again and again all wrapped up into one
2:30.0	Keith Bush, welcome to wrongful conviction
2:33.0	Thank you, thank you for having me here
2:35.0	You know, I always say I'm sorry you're here because of the reason why we're interviewing you today but I'm very honored to have you here
2:42.0	I appreciate being here
	...

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