Ear Biscuits with Rhett & Link - 252: How Would We Frame Someone For Murder? | Ear Biscuits Ep.252

Episode Date: August 24, 2020

Hypothetical murders and a real-life never-before-told story about a case that Rhett’s dad took on as a fresh new attorney. Listen to R&L go down a rabbit-hole of crime, prison escape, and justice o...n this week’s episode of Ear Biscuits! To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:00 This, this, this, this is Mythical. Make your nights unforgettable with American Express. Unmissable show coming up? Good news. We've got access to pre-sale tickets so you don't miss it. Meeting with friends before the show? We can book your reservation. And when you get to the main event, skip to the good bit using the card member entrance.
Starting point is 00:00:24 Let's go seize the night. That's the powerful backing of American Express. Visit amex.ca slash yamx. Benefits vary by card. Other conditions apply. Welcome to Ear Biscuits, the podcast where two lifelong friends talk. Oh, there you go. See, we built it up so much. About life for a long time. I technically didn't mess it up. I just paused in the middle.
Starting point is 00:00:51 Yeah, you kind of had a burst. I just stopped and I picked it up. I'm Rhett. And I'm Link. This week at the round table of not as dim lighting in our secondary but special location, we're gonna talk about the questions that keep you up at night.
Starting point is 00:01:08 That was the prompt that we put out there into the world. You know, we put these prompts out into the world on our Twitter feed. Follow us on Twitter, at Mythical. Twitter feed. If you wanna see what these things are, if you wanna be a part of it, if you want to hear us say your Twitter handle
Starting point is 00:01:26 and then rip your contribution to shreds or not. That's not gonna happen. It never happens. No, I'm super appreciative. I'm going to laud you with praise. So we go through these things. For your thoughts. You know, we'll come up with these prompts or Kiko or Jacob will help us come up with these prompts
Starting point is 00:01:46 sometimes, things that might lead to discussion. We have no clue what people are gonna say. And then we're, you know, we sift through it. I've been a student of the internet for so many years. I know exactly what kind of responses we're going to get. Well, did you know that the responses to what question keeps you up at night could be pretty heavy? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:02:07 I mean, we live in heavy times. Yeah, and then once we were going through them, I think we just had a different vibe. Who was that, rapper? We didn't pick the heaviest ones. This conversation, we're gonna keep it light. What was the rapper that had heavy? It was a-
Starting point is 00:02:23 Heavy D? Heavy D. Heavy D. Heavy D and the boys. Heavy D, heavy- I think there was a Z. Heavy Times would be like the perfect comeback album for Heavy D right now. He is dead.
Starting point is 00:02:32 Oh, that'd be quite a comeback. That would also, if someone has died and then they make a new album, quite a comeback is a good one. Of course, there's a lot of people putting out posthumous albums. Yeah, people think Tupac's still alive. I know, well, I mean, what do you think of the new Pop Smoke?
Starting point is 00:02:54 I've heard my son talking about this. I can't say I've partaken. I only know one Pop Smoke song. I mean, if someone's dead, I don't really want wanna get into them. Lincoln was a huge fan of Juice WRLD before he died. And then it's just, it's so sad now, you know? I thought you said you didn't wanna be heavy.
Starting point is 00:03:14 You did. I was talking about Heavy D coming back and you said he was dead. You could have lied to me. You could have said, yeah, yeah, yeah, he's back. What was that Heavy D song? What was the song? He had like a song or two, you know?
Starting point is 00:03:25 It wasn't great. His voice was kind of like, he kind of had a newscaster voice. It was interesting. Huh. The way that he rapped, he had a newscaster kind of- Never thought of it like that.
Starting point is 00:03:36 Kind of lilt to his voice. I have something that I need to catch you up on, you and you. Do it. So some of you who may follow me closely, I have something that I need to catch you up on, you and you. Do it. So some of you who may follow me closely on the Twitter or even follow my wife closely on the Twitter, know that we tend to get into these little back and forths and sometimes she'll take a picture of me
Starting point is 00:03:59 doing something stupid or whatever. And a couple of weeks ago, and maybe a few weeks ago by this point, she took a picture of me with a feline, which is the technical term for a cat. Now you might know that I typically, I'm not fond of cats. I was hypnotized to try to like cats and I couldn't. I tried, I gave it the old college try.
Starting point is 00:04:22 And I have stated clearly that I don't hate cats that just strongly prefer dogs, right? Lots of theories about why this is. I think you've even said that, so the times when you assert your hate for cats. It's kind of a bit. It's a comedic assertion. Yeah. It's fun.
Starting point is 00:04:42 It's based, it's one of those things that's based in the truth that I prefer dogs. It's a comedic assertion. Yeah. It's fun. It's based, it's one of those things that's based in the truth that I prefer dogs. It's heightened, it's a heightened reaction. I wouldn't, you know, I would not own a cat or have a cat as a pet if you don't like the term own for pets. And some people have been like, well, you know, people who don't like cats are full of themselves.
Starting point is 00:05:02 They want somebody to worship them. They're afraid of rejection. Maybe all that's true. I don't know. But I do prefer dogs more. However, my wife and I have been taking a lot of walks during the COVID. And I don't know, six weeks ago, walking past this house that we have walked past many times
Starting point is 00:05:23 and a, what do you call the cat that's like an orange striped cat, Garfield? I thought that was a tabby cat. I don't know, I'm not a cat expert. I don't know much about- Let's just call it a Garfield-like cat. Makes a beeline for us as we're passing this house, okay? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:05:44 Like coming at us hard. And at first I was a little bit like, and when a cat's coming at you hard, I mean, somebody like me is, who's not typically scared of animals, is like, what's this cat gonna do? What is it called? Orange cat breed. What you have is what I've seen.
Starting point is 00:06:02 What breed are orange cats? Tabby. orange tabby. You're right. Persian munchkin, American bobtail, British short hair, Bengal, Maine Coon, Ibsenian, and Egyptian mouse. It was like that. It was like your classic short haired,
Starting point is 00:06:18 that one right there, that's it. Yeah, it was like the cat I had as a child, Thomas, who only came to my house Thomas. and visited me in the shed out back whenever he felt like it. So anyway, this tabby cat approaches us and begins to meow loudly. And again, not being a cat expert,
Starting point is 00:06:37 I don't know exactly what this means, but he does not seem to be aggressive at all. And then he proceeds to- Both of you or just you? Both of us. Then he proceeds to- Have both of you or just you? Both of us. Then he proceeds to do that thing where cats rub up against your leg. Okay. Ostensibly to say, hey, I like you.
Starting point is 00:06:52 I love you. And this doesn't happen often with cats and me or cats and people that I knew of. But I'm immediately sort of into this cat. I mean, I got to be honest with you. Oh. Yeah. Right there on the street. And again, this probably fits perfectly the theory that people who want to be worshiped and loved
Starting point is 00:07:11 and are afraid of rejection like dogs more. And if you can find a cat that's dog-like and wants to love you, worship you, and not reject you, then you feel you love the cat back. That's me, I'm shallow. So this cat is really- I wasn't gonna say it. This really cat is really going at my legs, really begins to have an affinity for me.
Starting point is 00:07:30 I get down on my knees. Were you wearing shorts or pants? I don't walk in pants. Were you wearing that carpet suit from way back in the day that we have? Nope, just my straight carpety legs were the things that this cat was rubbing on. And my wife got a picture with it.
Starting point is 00:07:46 Not a great picture, it was dark. I was looking down, but she posted it on Twitter. And I said, more to come. I actually, I think I tweeted something like, I, breaking news, I have found a cat that I think I like or something like that. I did see that. So let me just tell you that we began to,
Starting point is 00:08:08 really, I began to always want to walk past this house. Oh, a tryst. And this cat, seven out of 10 times, would be there. No identifying marks, I mean, other than it's what it looks like. I mean, no leash, no collar. Okay. No leash. Of course it wasn't. I mean, no leash, no collar. Okay. No leash.
Starting point is 00:08:25 Of course it wasn't a leash, he was carrying a leash. No collar. And it would just come out into the road. But it would always come from that house, even though it didn't have a- Always come from that house. Like it would be in that front yard of that house. Sometimes it would be sitting on the steps.
Starting point is 00:08:39 And also- People feed feral cats. When we walked with Barbara, it would come up to Barbara like, "'Hello, friend,' on four legs." Yes When we walked with Barbara, it would come up to Barbara, like, hello friend on four legs. Yes, like, and Barbara, you know how Barbara reacted to that cat in the video? Barbara just kind of was indifferent towards this cat, but did not growl, did not hiss, didn't do anything.
Starting point is 00:08:55 Didn't bark. Neutral territory, not your home. That's what people are saying in the comments. And I began to really like this cat. And I actually began to think things like, I'm gonna steal this cat. Well, I thought that a little bit. I wasn't gonna admit that.
Starting point is 00:09:10 No one would know. I started to think, I think I could have a cat. Boy, wouldn't that send waves through the internet? I mean, maybe I think a little too highly of myself, but at least through the fandom. It would send a ripple through a subset of our fandom. Right. And so, and then one time, the last time,
Starting point is 00:09:32 most recent time I saw the cat, Jesse and I are walking, he comes up, he does this thing. I pet him, he's purring, he's meowing. And then we start walking, he's like, I'm gonna walk with you guys. Just starts walking with us. And then we start walking. He's like, I'm going to walk with you guys. Just starts walking with us. Walks a full block. And at that point I'm like,
Starting point is 00:09:49 do you really want to keep walking with us? I mean, this is a four mile walk, bud. And he seemed to understand the English and he sort of slowed down and turned around. But I started to think this is, you know, we live, you know, there's coyotes around, you know, and I've seen in our old house. Coyote will get a cat.
Starting point is 00:10:10 I once found- Or a little dog. I think I told this story on Ear Biscuit in times gone by. Found a half a cat, just a half a cat in my front yard one time. Yeah. Right? So that's what coyotes do to cat. They take half. Hey, you were halfway there way back then.
Starting point is 00:10:25 You just didn't know it. They take half, they leave half. You're a cat lover. And so I was worried. I love cats, but I love them in their whole form. Especially, and it was just the back half of the cat, which the coyote takes the interesting part. So I was worried about this cat.
Starting point is 00:10:42 I was like, you just can't be befriending everyone. Look at you with emotions towards the cat. You can't just go up to dogs and people. Like you can't just trust people. I felt like I had like a fatherly instinct to be like, you need to watch videos about strangers and vans and stuff. So- Carry a picture of a coyote next time you're walking past.
Starting point is 00:11:01 Just the other night. Oh no, is this bad? Jessie and I are walking, getting ready to get up to the house. Just the other night. Oh no, is this bad? Jessie and I are walking, getting ready to get up to the house. Get to the house. On the post in front of the house, there is a sign. What? It is a picture of my friend and it says lost cat.
Starting point is 00:11:20 You stole the cat. I did not steal the damn cat. The cat's gone. Oh no. And, Both halves? I'm assuming. The cat's gone.
Starting point is 00:11:32 And then on the rest of our walk. The cat didn't have a collar. I noticed. The cat never had a collar. I noticed other signs. If you're gonna make a sign for a cat, if you care enough to make a sign when the cat's gone, you should care enough to give the cat a collar before it's gone.
Starting point is 00:11:47 I just think this cat didn't need a collar. But anyway, there's other signs all throughout the neighborhood. Dang. And I was just like, what does this mean? What is the, you know, I don't really believe that the universe is telling me things, but I do find it somewhat helpful
Starting point is 00:12:04 to just assume the universe is telling me things. but I do find it somewhat helpful to just assume the universe is telling me things. I find that a useful way to live. If God, I'm gonna say God, is gonna tell you something. I think that's interchangeable with the universe. For you, then he's gonna tell you something. I hope it's gonna be not about a cat. Well, I mean.
Starting point is 00:12:23 What are you, if the universe is telling you something, what is it? Why is this about you? I'm just, well, because I'm- Somebody lost their poor cat. I'm interacting with this cat. So in my world, in my point of reference, I need to understand, that's a weird question to ask.
Starting point is 00:12:40 I'm just messing with you. I'm trying to figure out how I should interpret this sign. You know, I was moving towards a cat. I was opening my heart towards a cat. I was enjoying time with cat. And? And now cat is gone. Cat was taken from you.
Starting point is 00:13:03 And listen, I feel for these people, but that Kat is dead. I mean, I interacted with that Kat long enough and that Kat in our neighborhood, that Kat is not around anymore. You thought, but- I mean, maybe somebody did steal it because- You did say for a second, you thought,
Starting point is 00:13:19 I wouldn't like a Kat, I would like this Kat. And one time Barbara did, the one time Barbara got out of our house, you know the story, she literally, like somebody stopped and saw her walking down the street, they opened the door and she jumped in the car with them. That is the kind of dog that Barbara is and that's the kind of cat that this cat was.
Starting point is 00:13:37 So it's a lover, it's not a fighter. And so it tried to love a coyote and I think the coyote gave it a special kind of love back. Again, the collar thing reduces the level of sympathy, but I do know that there are people who will feed feral cats and they will consider, they will have a relationship with them, but they won't let them in the house.
Starting point is 00:14:00 This is clearly that kind of relationship. And yeah, we had a guy who was moving out of our neighborhood who was friends with Christy through the gym she used to go to. And he was like, listen, I know you guys live near me a couple of streets down the hill. This is an odd request, but we're moving. Do you want our cat?
Starting point is 00:14:19 Would you- Would you feed our cat? Yeah, would you take care of our cat? Cause it's a feral cat. It just, it runs through the neighborhood, but we feed it and she shows up every morning and I wanna bring her to your house and have you feed her and have her start showing up at your door.
Starting point is 00:14:33 Like he was really concerned about this cat. And I guess, you know, you can't have it both ways. It's, I would think it would be weird if that cat, a feral cat who you just happened to feed and have a relationship with, when it goes missing, you would put up signs to then what? Bring it back. So it will come back.
Starting point is 00:14:52 But it goes all, it's a free cat. That cat, the short life it lived. I'm not a cat expert. Was a full life, man. I'm not a cat expert, but I tend to believe that feral cats in the traditional sense are not as people, you know, they don't come up to people and meow
Starting point is 00:15:13 and rub on them. This is a house cat, this is a cat that has it both ways. This is a cat that gets whatever it wants. This cat definitely was on the inside and the outside. And you know what? This is like a cat in a halfway house. You know what I'm saying? I think we can celebrate the cat's life
Starting point is 00:15:29 and we don't have to feel sad because- Halfway house, that was- That cat had it all. Half, he's in half right now. That cat, everyone it met, it just showered with love. I mean, no offense to you. I don't think you were special.
Starting point is 00:15:43 No, no, it ended up developing a special bond with me. You were a giant dude walking a dog. If it came up to you, that cat would come up to anything. You're right, it would come up to a coyote. Well, my dog does the same thing. My dog has no loyalty to me and I still love it. My dog would have gone home and just started a new life with that other family.
Starting point is 00:16:02 I know it for a fact. So you- Never thought about us again. Okay, well maybe that cat, did you name it? It has a name and it's on the sign, but I didn't wanna say it because I don't want to, I don't like people making connections with it. It had a name, but it didn't have a collar. With the neighborhood and that kind of thing.
Starting point is 00:16:17 Still doesn't add up. I don't think I'm missing anything, am I? It's just, I think it's pretty simple. You're gonna post signs when it's gone, you need to give it a collar before it leaves. Yeah, I think the cat is just was a loose, they were holding onto this cat very loosely and they lost grip.
Starting point is 00:16:34 But for you, the cat was an angel leading you to the love of the female. I didn't know where the relationship was going, but it was going places very fast and I was just letting my heart just take flight. I wasn't- It ended all too soon. I was rerouting my path to this house.
Starting point is 00:16:51 I was spending quality time with the cat. I was getting pictures with the cat. Are you okay? I don't wanna gloss over that. I don't think I'm okay. Because I don't think I'll find another cat like this. You won't. I know for a fact, I mean, first of all, if you don't like kittens, you don't think I'll find another cat like this. You won't. I know for a fact, I mean, first of all, if you don't like kittens,
Starting point is 00:17:08 you don't have a heart. You're not human if you don't like kittens. Like no one's like, kittens suck, right? Kittens are awesome. I could have a kitten. But the chances that the kitten turns into a regular cat. Pretty high. Are so high. So high.
Starting point is 00:17:22 And at that point, it's like, I'm not interested in it anymore. I do, I want the animal to love me. I'm getting emotional support from this animal. I mean, when I do my stretches in the morning and Barbara gets on me, I need that. I become dependent upon that. You know what I'm saying?
Starting point is 00:17:40 When Barbara leaves or Barbara dies, she will be replaced, potentially with a clone of her or probably just another dog. A lot of responses to our prompt of what question keeps you up at night were related to dogs. A lot of people are kept up at night thinking, what does their dog think of them?
Starting point is 00:18:01 No one thinks about what their cat thinks of them because I think they know. They already know, right. We already talked about that on an Ear Biscuit. So for all of you who, did we not devote an entire Ear Biscuit to this? To what your dog is thinking? Yes. I think that was what we call a rabbit hole episode.
Starting point is 00:18:17 You guys. So look back through that if you really want us to discuss that because we're not hitting on that today. Somebody recently said, because it is happening so regularly now that we've got so many episodes of Ear Biscuits and so many episodes of Good Mythical Morning
Starting point is 00:18:29 and Good Mythical More, that we will have a conversation about something. The bidet conversation. And we're like blown away. Yeah, we talked about the bidets last week or a week before, whatever. People were like, guys, you did a whole episode on GMM where you highlighted this product.
Starting point is 00:18:44 You really do forget an episode as soon as it's done, guys, you did a whole episode on GMM where you highlighted this product. You really do forget an episode as soon as it's done, don't you? And the fact is, there's just so many. Yeah. Yes, I forgot. I saw that. I mean, I knew that they existed, but I didn't, you know, they didn't exist in my accessible world.
Starting point is 00:18:59 Well, the interesting thing about that, because the memory did flood back when I saw the little segments from the show. We were wearing fake butts and we were testing strange butt products and one of them was a portable bidet and it was different than the one that I got. Did you look at it?
Starting point is 00:19:18 Is it the one? No, I didn't watch it. You didn't see the picture. Mine's in the bathroom in there. I got it here. Well, it's like a teal color and it's got a longer wand on it. And the wand doesn't fold down. Oh, my wand folds down.
Starting point is 00:19:29 Okay, I'm pretty sure the wand doesn't fold. How does the wand not fold? What happens then? It's just don't squeeze it until you're ready, I think. Okay. So here we were squeezing this thing on each other's fake butts over our pants, which had our real butts underneath.
Starting point is 00:19:43 And we were just talking about how, I mean, the scent, I didn't watch it, it was a gif. So there wasn't anything to listen to, but we were just talking about how strange it was and oh, how we have changed. Oh yeah, we love it now. As we said, get on the train. We did it and we don't even remember
Starting point is 00:20:01 when we thought it was weird. That's how revolutionary, this is two episodes ago because I, yeah. Well, cause the other thing people pointed out was- That's how much it can impact your rectum. Our conversation about tau. Yeah, that was another one. And somebody was like, guys,
Starting point is 00:20:25 and Link was invited to- The context. Context, on Good Mythical Morning a few weeks ago, we did the thing where we tried a bunch of different- Levels of Chinese food. Super inexpensive- Frozen. To super expensive. And the super expensive restaurant
Starting point is 00:20:40 that we got the food from was called Tao. And I talked about how I went to my friend's birthday party there, super fancy, whatever, and Link was like, why didn't I go? I put you on a guilt trip. And I said, why didn't I go? And at the time I didn't remember, so I figured that you were invited, but I thought it would be funny to act
Starting point is 00:20:54 as if you weren't invited. So we had that conversation. People were like, it's funny how often people get, try to read so many things into the things that we say to each other. I love it though, that's why I feed into it. But they were like,
Starting point is 00:21:10 "'Link is really upset about not getting invited to Tao." I was so upset. Yeah, I was so upset. You weren't, he was invited to Tao. He couldn't go for some reason. The irony- But the irony of my joke- It was 2017.
Starting point is 00:21:23 Yeah, oh, that was so many years ago. The irony of my joke is It was 2017. Yeah, oh, that was so many years ago. The irony of my joke is that I know it elicits that response, but the joke is predicated on some people's assumption that whenever one of us does anything that the other person should always be invited, like that we're always there. Well, it's like when people find us in public and they say, where's Link?
Starting point is 00:21:46 I'm like, I don't know. Find us in public, find, yeah, or. Right. Either one of us. They ask where the other guy is. It's like, I could be anywhere in the world. And 90% of the time, if I'm by myself, it's like, where's Link? I don't know, I don't track him.
Starting point is 00:22:01 You know what I'm saying? I mean, but we are together a lot. And every time they see us, we're together. So they just assume that must be the way that they exist. We are together a lot. Yeah. But I've never been to Tao. And we totally forgot that we had that conversation,
Starting point is 00:22:17 which at that time you were like, you were invited. And I was like, yeah, Christy was invited, but then she forgot to tell me and then she forgot about it and we made other plans. But do you know, think about how, think about how impossible it would be to have a brain that could access all your memories, but also at the same time,
Starting point is 00:22:38 access the venue at which you access those memories publicly. You know what I'm saying? It's like, so we've had so many conversations on Ear Biscuits, on Good Mythical Morning, et cetera, but we've also had a lot of conversations just in life amongst friends with just the two of us here. And they're part of the brain that would be able
Starting point is 00:22:55 to catalog every single memory and also attach a little flag to it that says, that conversation happened on Ear Biscuits. Nobody except a very advanced yet to be invented artificial intelligence could be able to do that. But we have it. We have a brain extension and it is the mythical beast Right, that's true.
Starting point is 00:23:19 fandom that remembers these things because, you know, of all of them out there that are talking on the Mythical Society, that are talking on Reddit, that are talking- Yeah, it's a database, for sure. They're accessing and binge watching and just having this, it's very fresh to them. And they can remember it because if they hear us talk about something and they've heard us
Starting point is 00:23:41 talk about it before, it's easy to remember that. I've heard that story about the Chinese restaurant before because they don't have to know exactly where it took place even though this person who found it did know exactly and then cut it out. I do think that, and it's changed how we talk about things because we've come to grips with this reality slowly over time.
Starting point is 00:24:02 I don't know exactly how you feel about it, but I know that I am overly sensitive to it. Even like I made a comment after our last Ear Biscuit, I was like, you know, I'm not happy with, I don't like referring to stories that we've already told or retelling stories, like, you know, and you're like, hey, people like that because it gives them a sense of,
Starting point is 00:24:23 if you're referring to something that they missed, it's like, hey, I should have been listening earlier. I should have been a part of this. And every new thing we talk about is something that then can be a reference point later because it's part of our lives. And even if we forget it, you can help us with it. And if they remember it,
Starting point is 00:24:38 then they feel like they're a part of something. They've been around. So I think the thing that, the way that this phenomenon has impacted us, or at least one way, is we kinda own the fact that we do things for comedic effect that, you know, and it seems, it doesn't denigrate our sincerity, but it's just strange dance that for the longest time,
Starting point is 00:25:07 you know, we told the stories, we put it out there and then you tell the stories later and they're a little bit different or they morph or whatever and we talk about like how memory changes and like we give ourselves the excuse. But basically, there's also this, like you said about the cat thing. Years ago, we wouldn't talk about the cat thing in that way.
Starting point is 00:25:24 And I think that's part of the phenomenon of like the constant communication with our listeners is that they know us better than we know ourselves sometimes. And so, hey, it's like, oh, we just said that for comedic effect, or you know what, we forgot that, so I filled in the gap with something a little bit different or whatever the case may be.
Starting point is 00:25:45 Or there was the example of the, I don't know if it was, I think it was the Wired autocomplete interview that we did. And all the comments are, basically it was just one, we were in one of those weird moods where it's early in the morning in New York City and we did that interview.
Starting point is 00:26:03 Yeah. And we usually take a super like sarcastic tone when it comes to any of that sort of those interviews that are done in that way. Cause we're like, we're just here to be funny, right? And we almost get so committed to sarcasm that we make a mockery of the whole thing. And so people who watch that, the comments are,
Starting point is 00:26:24 I don't think any, they told any truth in this interview. I think that they were joking the whole time. And then if you don't know us, the tone switch between being sarcastic and being truthful, especially for me, there is no tone switch. It's exactly the same. You just have to be on your toes. But there's a little twinkle in the eye.
Starting point is 00:26:46 Yeah, you- But you gotta really know it. Yeah, yeah, but usually it's the context of what I'm saying is how you know whether or not it's true. And then sometimes I'll watch something back and I'll be like, yeah, I seemed serious there, but I wasn't. I get it, if you thought I was serious there, I don't blame you.
Starting point is 00:27:03 So I don't know. Now we're just turning it, just turning this into like a self-analysis podcast. We do that too much. Let's just analyze other people's brains. What keeps you up at night? Shop Best Buy's ultimate smartphone sale today. Get a Best Buy gift card of up to $200 on select phone activations with major carriers. Visit your nearest Best Buy store today. Terms and conditions apply. Okay, first question is from Caleb W. Francis.
Starting point is 00:27:34 We're big fans of Caleb. He, we found him on TikTok. And now we, you know, we follow each other on social medias of different sorts. He's got a question. He went to the beach. I've been following his Instagram stories. I think he took like a full cross country trip, apparently.
Starting point is 00:27:50 Oh, I saw him on a beach. The beach, at one point he got to a beach. Why do we only get two sets of teeth? The first set only lasts like five to six years and the second set is supposed to last a possible 90 plus years. Seems like we could use more sets of backup teeth. Oh, now Caleb, thank you for responding.
Starting point is 00:28:13 You know, you're a public comedian. You know, you gotta, there's this moment when it's like, okay, am I gonna respond to somebody, some other creator's prompt? It's like, okay, if he considers himself just a fan and he's responding that way, then as a mythical beast, boy, that makes me feel good, Caleb. I'm glad you're in the fold.
Starting point is 00:28:34 And if you did it just because for other reasons, I'm glad you did it anyway. You know, what I'm saying is, if you still wanna use this teeth bit as a funny TikTok, You should. Still do it. Right. You know?
Starting point is 00:28:48 In fact, it may even be cool for people who connect it to. Yeah, see if you can do that. Now, this is a great question. Two things come to mind for me. The first thing, you know, you've heard this, you know that elephants have a certain set of teeth, number of sets of teeth, and then when the final set wears out, they die.
Starting point is 00:29:03 That's how they know they're supposed to die. My teeth are gone and that's not actually how it works. They just can't eat anymore. But the second thing that makes me, that I think about is I often think about when people get their teeth knocked out in a sports, hockey, whatever, just maybe an accident with a weed whacker, it happens, right?
Starting point is 00:29:22 Yeah. And the only thing I'm thinking about when somebody gets their teeth knocked out as an adult, I'm like, that's it, those teeth are gone forever. Like now that you're gonna have some kind of denture situation. Now it's one thing if you get dentures when you get old, but when you're like 22
Starting point is 00:29:39 and you get your front teeth knocked out, it's like, damn, you gotta get dentures now, right? I mean, I guess they maybe they got some sort of technology. They're pretty good. They're pretty good at that though. Yeah, I think people, I don't think it ends up being that big of a deal now, but think about the old days.
Starting point is 00:29:55 Let's go back before modern dentistry. Oh, wooden teeth. Wooden teeth, man. Even before that, let's go back to the- Dead people's teeth in live people's mouths. Let's go back to to the cave people. Think about how devastating it would be. Like you get into a fight and you're like,
Starting point is 00:30:11 I'm gonna punch you in the face. It's gonna break your front teeth. And so for the rest of your life on this earth, you can't like bite a turkey leg. Well, not if you normally knock a couple out, you can still bite out. You can't bite it in the same way. You're gonna be a side biter. And if you got a little mouth out, you can still bite out. You can't bite it in the same way. You can be a side biter.
Starting point is 00:30:27 And if you've got a little mouth like me, side biting is difficult. So I don't want- I think you should have backup teeth. I mean, I don't know how many teeth Caleb has lost. I mean, you know, it's like what? And I don't think- It seems like he might've lost some adult teeth. I don't think they're wearing down.
Starting point is 00:30:42 Like, I mean, I see a lot of old people and- Yeah, yeah, it's not about wear and tear for humans. As much as it's just about- It would be nice to, what if it happened like a shark? Like, I mean, they just, they're lining up like in a Coliseum to drop down. You know, I am not with you on this one, Caleb, because if there's anything I hated in childhood, it was getting my toenails cut.
Starting point is 00:31:07 But if it was anything else, it was losing teeth. Man, losing teeth was like pulling teeth for me. It's horrible. Like I never, my aunt Vicki, man, I went over to her house and like, I would let the tooth just rot out and it would just, it would have to fall out on its own. Yikes. But she would get rot out and it would have to fall out on its own. Yikes. But she would get antsy and she'd say,
Starting point is 00:31:28 come over here, I'm gonna wrap it up in a Kleenex and yank it out. This is where being an only child gave you a disadvantage in this area. When you have siblings, they do things like tie your tooth up to a three-wheeler. And you know what I'm saying? That happen to you?
Starting point is 00:31:44 No, but that's an exaggerated form of the kind of things that happen. Did Cole do something to you? You didn't tell us all? I don't have any specific memories. I have more like, I watched this happen on the internet type memories and I'm sure that we did something like that.
Starting point is 00:31:57 Did you enjoy pulling your own teeth? I enjoyed right after it was pulled. Because it's annoying for it to be loose? Yeah, it's like having this weird thing in your mouth and you're like, I gotta get rid it was pulled. Because it's annoying for it to be loose? Yeah, it's like having this weird thing in your mouth and you're like, I gotta get rid of this thing. It's like a jostly hangy rock. There's a sense of euphoria when it comes out. And then after it comes out, it's like,
Starting point is 00:32:16 oh, that didn't hurt. You know what I'm saying? It's like- But it's bloody and it's fleshy under there and the color of that pulpy flesh is just gross. Don't look at it. You have to really make an effort to look at it. And then a few hours later, you gotta eat something?
Starting point is 00:32:32 This is why I still have my wisdom teeth, by the way. You know what? I should have had those pulled decades ago. Well, you don't need to worry about it now. And now it's like, well, as long as you keep them clean. So I try really hard. But I don't, I mean, if I had to look, if I was like, oh, you know, middle age, about to get my old man teeth,
Starting point is 00:32:56 they're wider and so for every two you lose, you get one in its place or something interesting like that. It's, I don't know, it'd be something to look forward to. But the losing thing, even at this age, like I've never pulled any of my children's teeth. I can't believe that Lando, he would get so annoyed with him. He would pull them out. He worked up a lot more courage than me.
Starting point is 00:33:21 That's normal childhood behavior. But Lando is a lot like me at that age. There was a lot of just nervousness, right? So aren't you a little surprised that he's just yanking him out? Yeah, I am, yeah. So I'm proud of the guy. It's because he's got brothers and sisters.
Starting point is 00:33:41 Even just the presence of siblings has an impact on that kind of thing. That's my theory. But I don't think, you're talking about pulling teeth. And the tooth fairy would sometimes wait over a week to come and get that tooth from him. The tooth fairy doesn't visit our house. I don't know if he knows where we live.
Starting point is 00:34:03 I think this is more the situation that I'm getting at, which is you accidentally lose a tooth for some reason. I certainly hope this doesn't happen to me in my adult life, but it could. Wow, you really fear this. I would say I have a rational fear of getting my teeth knocked out. First of all, just whatever happens that gets your teeth-
Starting point is 00:34:24 Does it break off or does the root come out too? It depends on the nature of it, man. I mean, I'm thankful that we live in modern times and it will be a relatively easy thing. And I've got plenty of friends who were like, oh yeah, this whole half of my top teeth are fake or something like that. And you're like, oh, I had no idea.
Starting point is 00:34:42 But it's interesting because evolution doesn't have an awareness of any modern technology, right? So evolution is just happening- Blind. Blindly based on people's environments and adaptations. And so for whatever reason, it was not seen as advantageous to have another set of teeth but you have to know that lots of people are losing teeth.
Starting point is 00:35:09 And now in the modern world with sugar, basically just sugar, you got tooth decay that also evolution was never prepared for, right? So you've got like certain cultures that are like living in the Amazon and all of a sudden they're introduced to modern foods and then they're just teeth start falling out because they have not coupled eating sugary foods
Starting point is 00:35:28 with modern dental hygiene. You gotta have both of those together. And even sometimes if you do, if you don't do a good job at cleaning those wisdom teeth, they're gonna have to pull them out someday. So I don't know. I don't really understand why we don't have the backup teeth but it was just determined to not be
Starting point is 00:35:46 worth the genetic effort. I'm so thankful for that. The thing about wisdom teeth is you pull those out and they don't wanna come out. That's what's been so scary for me all these years. Yeah, my father-in-law pulled mine because he's a dentist. And he just has a wanton desire to yank something that is perfectly at home where it is out.
Starting point is 00:36:10 Well, he loves oral surgery in general. And in my mind, he like had one leg up on the dentist chair. Like, you know what I'm saying? Like it was like one of them was so, my roots were twisted. Oh. And like my head was like going like, you know, like really like, he was like, I was having And like, my head was like going, like, you know, like really like, he was like, I was having to like hold my neck back. And it's like makes,
Starting point is 00:36:30 it makes a popping sound when it comes out. I don't recall. The only way I would do it is if I was drugged so aggressively. Okay, this next question, this is a head scratcher. I think I do have an answer though that, or at least something that can guide us.
Starting point is 00:36:45 This is from, is that Xylee's servant? Yeah. Sid. If a blood donor kills someone, can the person who received the murderer's blood be convicted of the murder based on DNA evidence? This is why blood donor donning is anonymous. So you can't frame somebody. Could this happen?
Starting point is 00:37:09 It doesn't matter if it's anonymous because let's just say you just received a bunch of blood and then you got mad at somebody or there was just some justifiable reason that you wanted to kill somebody and you did it. And in the process you were like stabbed and you bled in the crime scene. Could the DNA of the blood,
Starting point is 00:37:29 let's just say you got like almost a full blood transfusion. Point to the donor, yeah. So we're not scientists. I think that's been made abundantly clear, but we do know how to read articles on the internet. Well, but I didn't read any articles. So go ahead and give me your best guess and I'll give you some scientific guidance afterwards.
Starting point is 00:37:46 I think that your, let's see, it's DNA. I mean, there's certainly DNA in blood because it's just a cell. They all have the DNA. But to me, it has to, if you did it immediately, like you got a huge freaking blood transfusion, like I would say it would have to be like 90, over 90% of your blood would have to be replaced
Starting point is 00:38:13 because I think somehow you get, you gotta have maybe, I'll say 65% of your blood has to be replaced. And then- We're getting very specific for just a non-scientific test. You have to murder somebody within, I would say, an hour. And boy, that's tough.
Starting point is 00:38:33 To get a blood transfusion and then murder somebody? Yeah, you're pretty weak at that point. That would be so badass. You walk right out of the hospital and just kill the first person you see. Or just do it right in the hospital. Kill the person who is saving your life. There's irony.
Starting point is 00:38:46 Yeah, but we're not gonna really need much of an investigation if you kill the person in the hospital bed next to you. That's true. Giving you blood. Okay, okay, okay. I'm glad I'm not a criminal. You know what? I'm glad you're not a detective.
Starting point is 00:39:02 But I think that your blood assimilates very quickly. Like foreign blood is accepted and like the DNA is replaced or there's just not enough of it. I think that's what it is. So it has to be quick and it has to be a big transfusion. What was the last thing that filled you with wonder that took you away from your desk or your car in traffic? Well, for us, and I'm going to guess for some of you, that thing is... Anime!
Starting point is 00:39:35 Hi, I'm Nick Friedman. I'm Lee Alec Murray. And I'm Leah President. And welcome to Crunchyroll Presents The Anime Effect. It's a weekly news show. With the best celebrity guests. And hot takes galore. So join us every Friday wherever you get your podcasts
Starting point is 00:39:49 and watch full video episodes on Crunchyroll or on the Crunchyroll YouTube channel. I mean, I think you're basically right. Oh, thank goodness. Scientific American has this article from 2009 by Michelle Gong. Michelle N. Gong, an assistant professor at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine explains. So we got an assistant professor?
Starting point is 00:40:12 Well, I mean, that doesn't, I mean, she's probably a professor at this point. Sounds like a TA to me. So basically, I'm not gonna read this article, but it seems to be the case that there's not, there is DNA in blood that has been transfused, but it is almost certainly going to be overwhelmed by the DNA of the recipient.
Starting point is 00:40:34 Like, so in the crime scene, now you're kind of talking about like just blood everywhere. Typically DNA evidence is like hair, skin cells, saliva, there's more than just blood, right? But even within the blood, and I guess, I mean, if you replace 90% of your blood, I don't know what the case is, but typically if you just go and you get,
Starting point is 00:41:00 you receive blood because you needed a blood transfusion that did like a certain percentage of your blood. It says that donor DNA and blood transfusions in the recipients persist for a number of days, sometimes longer, but its presence is unlikely to alter genetic tests significantly. Basically, once you go and you start- It could happen though.
Starting point is 00:41:20 Like analyzing the DNA, the overwhelming DNA signature will be from your existing DNA, the overwhelming DNA signature will be from your existing DNA, right? But if literally, if that one situation where you just basically are full of donor blood and it's got the DNA, now it says something about like, transfused blood, red blood cells, the primary component in transfusions
Starting point is 00:41:43 have no nucleus and no DNA. What? Transfused blood does, the primary component in transfusions have no nucleus and no DNA. What? Transfused blood does, however, host a significant amount of DNA containing white blood cells or leukocytes, around a billion cells per unit, roughly one pint of blood. Red blood cells have no nucleus and no DNA?
Starting point is 00:41:59 So yeah, so not saying that there is not a DNA signature there, but there's gonna be red blood cells. You're gonna have some red blood cells. Are you gonna, there's gonna be, there's gonna be some DNA there. And yeah, your body quickly assimilates. I don't know what that process is like and how you're the, you know,
Starting point is 00:42:19 the DNA gets overwhelmed and replaced. But I think that the chances of that particular situation of somebody getting all their blood, killing somebody, and the majority of their DNA being left at the scene is just more blood. It's probably never, we've probably never had the opportunity to experiment with that specific scenario.
Starting point is 00:42:39 I'm sure there's been somebody who they've taken like a pint of blood that's not theirs with them. To frame somebody. But you gotta, forensically, you gotta be real smart about that. But I think you should, I think actually- The spatter. Taking- I've watched enough CSI.
Starting point is 00:42:56 I think you take hair, spit, and some skin, if you really wanna leave the mark from somebody else. But getting all that from a person is difficult. You wanna receive a blood donation, a hair donation, and a skin and spit donation and then kill somebody. If you coordinate this right, you could do it, right? First of all, you gotta develop a relationship
Starting point is 00:43:20 with their barber, right? Yeah. You can get lots of hair from a barber and you can come up with all kinds of semi-legitimate reasons why you would need it. I'm gonna make a- Making a sweater for my kid. Do you know that the most comfortable pillows
Starting point is 00:43:37 are made of human hair? You don't wanna tell the barber something that seems like a great business idea. It needs to be something personal, not something scalable like hair pillows. Yeah, I wanna do a one of a kind hair painting for that guy who was just in your chair, who I'm actually framing for murder.
Starting point is 00:43:57 I wanna give him a hair painting gift. I believe that this is one of the scenarios where you saying exactly the truth. Like sometimes in movies, like the killer will say exactly the truth and it's so outlandish that it just, nobody takes it seriously. I wanna frame this guy for a murder I'm about to commit.
Starting point is 00:44:12 Right. And they just give you the hair and you walk out. So that's easy, get the hair. Skin, you gotta talk to their, I guess masseuse. You gotta talk to their masseuse. You gotta be like, after you rub this person down, can I, can I- Slug your hands. For science purposes, can I, yeah,
Starting point is 00:44:32 can I get a sample of this from your hands? Spit, that's super easy. And there's a number of ways to get people spit. You could be like a fake 23andMe kind of service, get them to spit in something. You could probably go door to door, we're collecting the neighborhood spit. Yeah, you could-
Starting point is 00:44:53 People will probably give you their spit. You could just clean there. I think the best thing to do, clean their house. Like show up as a cleaner. Oh, this is- First service free. You get all the sales you want of every type, man. And you can also dust for fingerprints and then maybe create some sort of-
Starting point is 00:45:12 Freaking Tony Danza. Okay, that was it. Okay. What's the next one? The next one is also a crime question. Oh yeah, here we are. CSI, don't get fooled again, Mariah. I don't see Mariah's handle
Starting point is 00:45:29 cause I screenshot this incorrectly. Mariah though. If someone is framed for, we're in crime framing. If someone is framed for a crime and ends up in prison, but then they escape and while they are on the run, the police figure out who really did the crime and put them away instead. Would the person who wasn't supposed to be locked up
Starting point is 00:45:50 in the first place have to go back for escaping prison? Or would they just be free since they technically weren't supposed to be there anyway? Well. So if you're wrongfully convicted and imprisoned, you escape and then at the same time, exonerated. Enter Harrison Ford. I'm not lying, and this was not a setup for this question,
Starting point is 00:46:15 but me and Shepard watched The Fugitive together like three weeks ago. I remember that being a good movie. I watched it basically when it came out. One of the- Like 94ish, 92? Early 90s. One of the things that I ended up doing quite often when I'm trying to figure out what we're gonna watch
Starting point is 00:46:32 as a family. I saw a movie, did you hear that? Oh yeah, yeah. Link has seen this movie, which is pretty phenomenal. Yeah, okay, there you go, that's all I needed. I'll look up like top 100 thrillers of all time. You know, I was like, I want to watch an action movie, a good action movie with Shepard.
Starting point is 00:46:48 And pulled out the fugitive. And of course, as it's coming on, first of all, there's this, there's a moment in every movie that's made before like 2004 where kids know because the credits are so long at the beginning of the movie. They're like, what is this opening title sequence for like three minutes where they're telling me
Starting point is 00:47:08 everybody who did everything in the movie, like you can't do that anymore because people are like, what the hell is this? Put that at the end, I don't care about it. A lot of movies, they put the title at the end now. Yeah, you got no time, you gotta get into it, man. I'm not a fan of that, by the way. Title at the end?
Starting point is 00:47:24 Not a fan of the title at the end. I want the title up front, but I don't need, I watched the credits. I'm in LA, I'm in the industry. I stick around and I watch the credits until the movie's done when I go to a theater. Long opening sequence to The Fugitive. But this is the plot of The Fugitive,
Starting point is 00:47:42 which is a, by the way, highly recommended movie. And yes, we are going to spoil it, but you can imagine if the setup of the thing is the guy is wrongfully convicted for a murder, in this case, the murder of his wife, you can imagine that he's going to exonerate himself. But the movie is basically about him being a fugitive. He's being chased by a federal agent
Starting point is 00:48:01 played by Tommy Lee Jones. Oh yeah. At his finest. Oh yeah? Well and played by Tommy Lee Jones. Oh yeah. At his finest. Oh yeah? Well, at his Tommy Lee Jones. I mean, he's just the same guy in every movie. And he's on the run and then he's trying to prove his innocence. And he has an outlandish story
Starting point is 00:48:16 about a guy with a prosthetic limb who killed his wife. Turns out that it's got some stuff to do with some pharmaceutical scheme, et cetera. But, and also Jane Lynch makes a cameo before she was, you know, a household name. She's like, she works at the hospital. Anyway, in the movie, and I based all my legal opinions off of things that happened in movies from the 90s.
Starting point is 00:48:40 He never went to prison. He didn't escape from prison, did he? Oh, yeah. He was- I thought he escaped. He was in custody. On the way or something. Well, he was in custody, whether he's in prison or not. He's in custody.
Starting point is 00:48:52 He's on the inmate bus. Yes. And presumably he's already been in, you know, he's been in jail awaiting trial. He gets convicted. He's being transferred to prison with a bunch of prisoners in a bus, the bus wrecks, and he's given the opportunity to escape and he takes it.
Starting point is 00:49:13 And then he's on the run and then he spends the whole movie trying to prove himself innocent. And of course at the- Spoiler alert, he was not. He's totally guilty. No, so, and at the end of the movie, when basically, you know, Tommy Lee Jones, you can kind of tell is becoming convinced of his innocence as the movie is going on.
Starting point is 00:49:33 And so at the end of the movie, it's kind of like, I know you like escaped the deal and we've been running all over the place, but- You can't do it. You know, you're innocent. So yeah, go free, whatever. Tommy Lee Jones did let him go. Yeah, he's- I don't do it. You know, you're innocent. So yeah, go free, whatever. Tommy Lee Jones did let him go. Yeah, he's- I don't remember now.
Starting point is 00:49:49 Yeah, I mean, the implication, even though it's only been three weeks, I can't remember exactly what happens. The implication is he's exonerated himself, everybody knows it, and he's not gonna be in prison. And he's not going to be, this is the thing, because in America, I went to CORA, which is like where people who are sometimes experts
Starting point is 00:50:08 or at least claim to be experts or think they're experts answer questions. And the answer to this question was filled with a bunch of people saying that, at least in the United States, the act of escaping confinement is in itself a crime and often involves some sort of property damage and maybe some sort of assault is required
Starting point is 00:50:28 in order to get out. But let's just say that it's a perfect situation. You didn't break any laws. You just like, you looked and all of a sudden, like the gate at prison was open and you just walked out. Yeah. You technically committed a crime when you did that. But in the court of public opinion, if you're exonerated when you walked out. Yeah. You technically committed a crime when you did that, but in the court of public opinion,
Starting point is 00:50:47 if you're exonerated when you're out, The judge may say, okay, the time served. Yeah, right. Time served. In some countries, Especially if the time you've served is more than the time that would have been for a prison escape. You know what I'm saying? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:51:02 In some countries, I have read, it is not illegal to escape in prison. I saw that too. Can that be true? But there's, it seems true because I read it and it was like grammatically correct on the internet. How is that possible though? But you typically-
Starting point is 00:51:18 It's like saying you should escape. And then, I don't know, the one thing I read was like, you know, because it's the natural, you can't punish somebody for their natural inclination to wanna not be in prison, but the Harvard's really. Well, what do they have a natural inclination to kill somebody? That's ridiculous. That's a ridiculous rationale.
Starting point is 00:51:32 But even in those countries, there's typically other infractions associated with it that you can still be convicted for and put back behind bars associated with an escape. And then there was this one anecdote of this guy, I think in Germany where it is claimed to not be illegal to escape, that his prison outfit showed up at the prison,
Starting point is 00:51:59 laundered and folded and in a considerate way shipped back to them. wandered and folded and in a considerate way, shipped back to them. So then they didn't have, you know, he didn't steal the, Oh. Sounds like an urban legend. Yeah, I have my doubts about the, why that would not be the law, but I don't know. I don't, I've never thought about it.
Starting point is 00:52:22 You know, you talk about exoneration in movies. Like I think about the hurricane, Denzel Washington. I definitely want to see that again. It's been a long time since I saw that. That was a good movie. It's a really good movie. I gotta watch that one again. Oh, you know, another good movie
Starting point is 00:52:43 that's along the same lines of Just Mercy. I watched that recently. New movie. Michael B. Jordan. But again, based on a true story of like a young attorney trying to prove a guy innocent. And the guy still to this day operates this institution that is basically like the Innocence Project kind of thing, but offering legal. Yeah, I was gonna like the Innocence Project kind of thing, but offering legal.
Starting point is 00:53:05 Yeah, I was gonna mention the Innocence Project because once you start thinking about just the horrifying reality of being falsely imprisoned, I mean, there's one guy who was in prison for 37 years and then exonerated. For a rape he didn't commit. I have an incredible story. It wasn't planning on telling, but it's, this is,
Starting point is 00:53:29 my dad told me this. I was talking to my dad who up until this year he retired, he was a law professor. And of course he was a lawyer before he was a law professor. And I was talking to him about how much I enjoyed Just Mercy, which is the story again, of a young attorney, a young black attorney going down to Alabama and trying to prove, like sort of re-examine the evidence
Starting point is 00:53:57 around this black guy who was falsely accused of murdering a white woman. And it takes place in like, that Just Mercy takes place in like the 80s or 90s, 90s, early 90s, I think. And as you can imagine, the guy was wrongfully convicted. I was telling my dad about it and he just- If you're gonna make a movie about it, then yeah.
Starting point is 00:54:20 Right. He starts telling me a story, I'm like, why have you never told me this story before? So, well, my dad was a very new attorney, like had just graduated from law school and like just got just past the bar. He's, you know, at that point you're kind of assigned cases. And so there's a guy who is a security guard
Starting point is 00:54:50 in the Smithsonian in Washington, DC. Okay. And like whatever year this is, you know, my dad's beginning to practice law, so early 70s. And a guy breaks into the Smithsonian and he has to shoot him and kill him. Wow. And as they're kind of,
Starting point is 00:55:12 now he's innocent for shooting the dude, but in the process of like examining like who this guy is, they're like, this guy is a prison escapee. The security guard. The security guard. This guy escaped from an Alabama, no, I guess it was Georgia, from a Georgia chain gang in like 1940. Okay. So like 30 years ago, right?
Starting point is 00:55:38 And he was convicted of some crime. I don't know what it was. I don't know what the crime was, but he was convicted of a serious crime, a felony, and then he was on the chain gang and he escaped from the chain gang and then goes on to live a normal life.
Starting point is 00:55:53 But they find, oh, this guy is freaking from a chain gang. And so they assign the case to my dad. To defend him. To defend him. Oh, wow. And my dad sits down with him. To defend him. Oh, wow. And my dad sits down with him and basically he's like,
Starting point is 00:56:08 this guy went on to live a completely fruitful life, contributing to society. And also, by the way, because my dad asked him flat out, he was like, did you do the thing that you were convicted of? He's like, no. And he was like, he said, I didn't even have the opportunity to enter a plea.
Starting point is 00:56:30 And so my dad's like, okay, yeah, Georgia, 1940. I can imagine that this is the way it was. So my dad starts looking at the documents, like the records, and he finds that there is a guy, some position in the court who was overseeing, like an attorney who was overseeing these cases at the time who is still alive and who is now like 90 years old and lives somewhere in Georgia.
Starting point is 00:57:01 And my dad goes to the dude's house, which is crazy because this is kind of what happens in Just Mercy where like you go to these people who have something to do with the case. And of course, in Just Mercy, it's just, you know, you know, a decade ago or whatever, but this is like decades ago. And he sits down with this guy and he says,
Starting point is 00:57:18 "'This is my client and this is what happened. "'Do you remember this case?' "'And he was like, "'I don't remember the details of that case, but I'll tell you the way that it used to work. He said, every Monday morning, everybody that we had arrested, he said, every black person that we had arrested. Okay.
Starting point is 00:57:38 We'd bring them into court and we would enter a guilty plea for all of them. Everyone, he says, would not give them an opportunity to testify, would not give them an opportunity to even to enter a plea. They would represent them all as a collective, regardless of what had happened, whatever they'd been arrested for,
Starting point is 00:57:58 just enter a guilty plea and then sentence them. Systemic racism, it's real. So my dad finds this out and he's like, well- So there's no trial, it's just a conviction. It's just a sentencing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So he's like, well, obviously this is wrong. And so my dad like takes this, I don't know exactly what he did,
Starting point is 00:58:21 but he basically takes this evidence to the thing and the judge says, all right, this was a wrongful conviction and he's free, but then it's appealed or they have to take it to like the district court, which was in New Orleans. And my dad is, you know, who's- Green. He's green, he's already received like
Starting point is 00:58:44 his like 500 bucks or whatever you get to represent somebody and you're not supposed to receive any more. He's like, do you want me to go to New Orleans and defend this guy? And the judge was like, yep, and we'll make sure that you, you know, we pay for your expenses or whatever. He didn't have any money.
Starting point is 00:59:03 So he goes down there and basically presents the case to just a big court. Like a district court is just a bunch of judges like overseeing a bunch of cases, right? And they let the dude go. Dang, that needs to be a movie, man. Yeah, I was like, dude, I was like, dad, this is basically just mercy.
Starting point is 00:59:21 Well, I was like, why have you never told me this story? The interesting thing about it is that the guy, you know, I mean, after decades, maybe there's not as much fear, but there's still gotta be this thing that's like, I haven't been caught, but I could have been found out and it could still happen. And I'm a security guard and I'm doing everything right,
Starting point is 00:59:45 but then he's presented with this opportunity. I mean, to do his job requires shooting somebody in the Smithsonian or not, by the way. He didn't, you know, at that moment, it sounds like he did the right thing where that put him in danger of scrutiny that then it came to pass, you know? So doing the right thing put him in danger of scrutiny, that then it came to pass. So doing the right thing put him in the crosshairs
Starting point is 01:00:09 of going back to prison. Yeah. Man. Well, I think the thing that Just Mercy highlights is that, okay, yes, because of the Civil Rights Movement, things have gotten better. That exact scenario doesn't happen anymore. But the fact is is that the roots of that systemic racism are still very alive and well,
Starting point is 01:00:29 and they continue to be cut back. They continue to be rooted out literally. And, but, you know, as recently as, you know, the early 90s, it was basically almost exactly the same scenario, but just with one individual guy. And then this stuff is still, you know, there's still a lot of this existing in sentencing
Starting point is 01:00:53 and, you know, it still exists. It's like if you, any sort of nonpartisan evaluation of the current justice system shows that there is still a bunch of inconsistencies and a bunch of injustice towards people of color. You should- Still around. And that's why BLM exists. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:01:15 But by the way, you should get some more stories from your dad, you should- Well, he's got a really good one that I think I've told before about the being attacked by some female inmates who escaped from a place that he was like working. They teamed up on him and beat him up and got out. What? Like two or three female prisoners, yeah.
Starting point is 01:01:40 He's got a good story about that too. Were they innocent? Did he exonerate them after the fact? He represented them out at the fact. Okay, we could do a crime podcast. We kind of did. Like a whole different, a new podcast? You could just turn this into a crime podcast.
Starting point is 01:02:01 Crime biscuits. Yeah. Well, hopefully you'll sleep a little better at night, some of you. Yeah, and you know what? There's many more questions that we didn't get to, so we'll do this again. This was a fun conversation.
Starting point is 01:02:15 It led to some really interesting places. You know what? I wasn't gonna make this my rec, but I am gonna make it now that I talked about it, Just Mercy, the movie. Just, I mean, it's super well done, first of all. You got Jamie Foxx playing the guy who was convicted. You got Michael B. Jordan playing the attorney.
Starting point is 01:02:36 Really great performances, and I just think it's one of those things that I think it's important to, you know, especially if you question whether or not this systemic racism that people talk about actually exists. And based on some of the stuff that I see on the internet, a large percentage of people, at least in America, continue to question whether or not this is even a reality. They think this is just some trumped up bullshit
Starting point is 01:03:03 that's trying to support some kind of Marxist movement or whatever the latest conspiracy theory is about it. When the reality is, is there's a lot of injustice that's been done and this movie does a great job. It's just a great movie, it's a great story and it does a really good job of highlighting exactly how frustrating it would be to be a black person
Starting point is 01:03:31 in the justice system, especially at that juncture, in that place, in the deep, deep South Alabama. So just mercy, watch it, it's good. And if you wanna go back a few decades, the hurricane is a similar story. Yeah. All right, hashtag your biscuits. Let's continue the conversation. Let us know what you think.
Starting point is 01:03:51 And we'll speak at you again next week because that's what we do. We want to, we enjoy it.

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