48 Hours - Crosley Green Comes Home
Episode Date: April 18, 2021The emotional homecoming of a man imprisoned for nearly 32 years. A judge ruled he was wrongfully convicted of murder, but is he home for good? Questions linger about the witness who bla...med him. "48 Hours" correspondent Erin Moriarty has the latest on the case she's covered for more than two decades.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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ConstantContact.ca My phone started just blowing up.
There was a text that said, we did it.
Crosley's going to be released.
We started scrambling.
We let the family know. We got down there, and then the gates opened, and Crosley stepped out.
It's a moment that I've dreamt about so many times, and to have it come true, I think I was maybe still a little bit in shock.
little bit in shock. And we thank you, Father, for opening the doors that man had shut for us.
I want to see my kids, my grandkids. I got grandkids I've never seen. It was incredible.
It was so joyous. There were family members there that he had never met.
They weren't born when he went into prison.
We don't know what happened that night.
All we know is that Chip Flynn picked up his ex-girlfriend,
they had sex, they smoked marijuana, then Chip Flynn got shot.
In the early morning hours of April 4th, 1989, the police received a 911 call from Kim Hallick.
I was dispatched almost immediately. They did eventually find Chip Flynn lying in an abandoned orange grove.
He's been shot.
I get a call shortly after 2 o'clock that he has died.
There was a statement taken from Kim Halleck.
The black gang stepped out with a gun.
And I heard about five or six gunshots.
You don't see anybody else around.
Shots were fired.
You don't see any shell casings.
And it just makes you wonder.
The black guy told me I was a slut.
I don't believe a word she says.
It's unfortunately a classic case of what is often referred to as a racial hoax,
which is a black guy did it.
So you get then called in by the prosecutor. I told him I thought she did it. I said to him,
you know, I think you need to take a close look at Kim Halleck.
Were you at all surprised when Crosley Green was charged with Chip Flynn's murder?
It was a total shock. This was like picking a name out of a hat.
We finally had a federal judge rule that Crosley Green had been wrongfully and unconstitutionally convicted.
What did it feel like the first time you walked out and the gates closed behind you?
I wasn't focusing on what was behind me no more.
I was focusing on what was in front of me.
The state could decide to retry you.
You're not afraid of it.
I'm not afraid of it.
What I've been telling you
for the last 20-something years, that I was innocent, I want my day in court to prove that. Thank you. In 2014, Laura Heavlin was in her home in Tennessee
when she received a call from California.
Her daughter, Erin Corwin, was missing.
The young wife of a Marine had moved to the California desert
to a remote base near Joshua Tree National Park.
They have to alert the military, and when they do, the NCIS gets involved.
From CBS Studios and CBS News, this is 48 Hours NCIS.
Listen to 48 Hours NCIS ad-free starting October 29th on Amazon Music. I
Want to thank God. I want to thank God that I'm standing here today as a free man.
I want to thank our Lord Jesus for making it possible.
On Crossley Green's first full day of freedom, even a press conference under a giant tree feels special.
Something I haven't stood up up in 30-some years. Next stop for Crosley and his lawyers, the taste of freedom. I've been wanting
this strawberry ice cream for so long. That's one of the first things I want to get when I get out of here. Crosley Green is out of prison, but he's not truly a free man. After his murder conviction
was vacated by a federal court in 2018, the state of Florida appealed. Crosley had been
kept behind bars waiting for the U.S. Court of Appeals to decide. But last week, his attorneys, worried about Crosley's health,
convinced a federal judge to allow Crosley to wait with his family,
attorney Keith Harrison.
He's home now, but that could change.
He could go back, couldn't he?
He could.
If the Court of Appeals decision comes down against him, he would likely go back to prison.
It's a real possibility.
48 Hours has been covering this questionable conviction for 22 years.
Crosley's attorneys say race was a factor from the beginning.
The evidence that Crosley Green is innocent is literally overwhelming.
Crosley's ordeal began in April of 1989. Charles Flynn, better known as Chip, was found shot in a
Florida citrus grove. He had been with his ex-girlfriend Kim Halleck that night. She told
investigators that they had been robbed and
hijacked by a black man in Holder Park as they sat in Chip's truck a little after 11 p.m.
Told Chip there's a black guy on your side and he rolled up the window really quick.
20 minutes later, Kim says, Chip stepped out of the truck and she heard him say,
Minutes later, Kim says, Chip stepped out of the truck and she heard him say, hold on, man.
Did you see that the black male was armed at that time?
Yes, I did.
Chip had a gun in his glove box.
I took the gun out of the glove box and stuck it under some jeans that were next to me.
She says the man tied Chip's hands with a shoelace, ordered her to hand over money from Chip's wallet,
and then with everyone in this truck, she says the assailant drove them to the Orange Grove,
steering, shifting gears, and somehow holding a gun on them all at the same time.
Kim Hallick told police that when they got to the Grove, the man yanked her out of the truck, and then Chip, his hands still tied behind his back,
somehow managed to get a hold of his gun that Kim had hidden on the truck seat.
He leaned out of the truck and somehow shot at the guy, and the guy stepped back,
chipped him out of the truck.
I jumped in the truck, and I heard about five or
six gunshots. She said she then drove to a friend's home for help. Sheriff Deputy Mark Rixey
and Sergeant Diane Clark were the Citrus Grove at 1210.
And yet, you're not dispatched till 113.
It's over an hour.
There is approximately an hour that is missing and unexplained.
How crucial was that time that night?
Matter of life and death.
Why is she not stopping someplace and making that phone call?
Where could she have called?
Right here.
From payphone? I think there was three along the way.
A convenience store, convenience store, and the hospital's right there.
The directions Kim gave were so vague that even after Clark and Rixey were dispatched,
it took another 30 minutes to find Chip.
Get the call at 113. I respond to this area. There's nothing there.
Had to notify my dispatch to get better directions.
I drive to this new area here where they informed me to go. Again, there's nothing there.
Why then were you first sent to the wrong location?
That's a good question.
One we'd been asking ourselves for 30 years now.
30 years.
She didn't tell us where to go.
She gave the wrong direction.
Sergeant Clark ended up sending another deputy
to pick Kim up so she could better guide them.
She wouldn't yell at the car.
We say, can you show us where?
Nope. Not going down there.
What did that say to you? What did you think?
There's something wrong. Something is not ringing true.
I would want to know, is he okay?
They found Chip laying on his stomach with his hands tied behind his back, bleeding from
a single gunshot wound to his chest.
He was in pain, but I seriously thought he'd be okay.
First words out of his mouth were, get me out of here.
I don't want to go home.
Did he mention anything about an assailant?
Nope.
No. Did he mention anything about being robbed? No. Did he mention anything about an assailant? Nope. No. Did he mention anything about being robbed?
No.
Did he mention anything about being kidnapped?
No.
I'm thinking, what's going on here?
My feeling about it at the time, and still is, that he was protecting her.
Chip Flynn stopped breathing twice as they waited for an ambulance.
Sergeant Clark tried to save his life.
He didn't have to die.
There wasn't anything he didn't like to do.
Chip's parents, Charles and Peggy Flynn,
now both deceased, rushed to the Orange Grove
when they got the word Chip had been hurt,
but police wouldn't let them near the scene.
I should have been able to go back to sleep.
The Flints, who spoke with us in 1999, were shocked to learn that Chip had been with Kim
Halleck that night.
Chip had a new girlfriend.
That's all he talked about.
He didn't mention Kim anymore or anything.
Chip's parents said Kim had become too possessive and overbearing.
Chip liked his freedom. She wanted him to be with her all the time.
Kim was upset about the breakup, according to Chip's friend David Stroop, who also spoke with us in 1999.
I do remember that she didn't want to let go.
And it was David's home where Kim Halleck went for help.
I wondered why she came to my place as opposed to just stopping at the first potential telephone.
You know, even a home with a light on or anything, you know.
So it's always bothered me.
Kim Halleck was not and has never been a suspect.
Homicide detectives from Brevard County Sheriff's Office seemed to take her at her word,
despite her delay in calling for help and her inability to describe the assailant very well.
I really didn't need a real good look at him. I was really scared.
Investigators claim that almost immediately they got a tip that a small-time drug dealer, Crosley Green, was involved.
He had recently been released from jail.
The description that she had given for the sketch
didn't match him.
They showed Kim this photo lineup,
and Kim chose number two, Crosley Green.
His picture is smaller and darker
than any of the other pictures,
and it's right in, you know, what is often referred to as the bullseye point of a photo array.
Crosley Green admits he was no angel, but he had no history of violent crime.
I think he was just an easy pick.
We're going to put somebody in jail for this.
Green was arrested and charged with kidnapping, robbery, and murder,
despite no direct evidence linking him to Chip's shooting.
There were no fingerprints of Crosley Green or any third person on the truck.
Not one single fingerprint.
There was no case against Crosley Green.
There was no case. It was a one-witness ID case.
In August of 1990, Crosley Green went on trial for the murder of Chip Flynn.
The case hinged on the testimony of Kim Hallick,
the state star witness who identified Green as the black man who attacked the couple, defense attorney Keith Harrison.
That's the weakest kind of case where the only evidence you have is somebody said that guy did it.
The state claimed there were also shoe prints found at Holder Park. Prosecutor Christopher White, now retired,
said a dog followed the scent of those prints
to the vicinity of a house where one of Green's sisters lived.
White spoke with us in 2015.
The shoe impressions were followed from the site where the truck was parked,
supporting what Kim said about there being a third person there,
a black male, who abducted them and did these things.
Those shoe prints, however, were never linked to Crosley Green.
But the prosecution also had three witnesses,
all with criminal problems of their own,
who claimed Crosley confessed.
One was Crosley's own sister, Sheila.
The defense argued that Crosley couldn't have killed Flynn because he had an alibi.
Crosley says he was seen at the time of the murder by multiple witnesses at a party two miles away.
But his former attorney only called one to testify. And on September 5th, 1990, an all-white jury convicted Crosley Green of kidnapping, robbery, and murder.
He was sentenced to die in Florida's electric chair.
Hi, Crosley.
I'm Erin Moriarty with CBS.
I first met Crosley Green in 1999.
What's it like being here on death row?
It's hell. It's hell to me because I'm here for a crime I didn't commit.
A team of lawyers from Crowell and Morin, led by Keith Harrison and Gene Thomas,
took Crosley's case pro bono.
They say jurors never heard the real story.
When you look at all of the facts, you see that the state wanted to achieve a certain
result and they manufactured evidence. They coerced witnesses to lie.
Even before the trial, Kim Hallick's account had serious inconsistencies. She told police
that the assailant had managed to steer Chip's truck, shift gears, all while holding a gun on them.
And yet, she told Chip's parents a very different story.
She was having to shift the gears for him.
He would just smash a clutch and she would shift the gears.
He was making her do that.
Kim changed other parts of her story as well.
it. Kim changed other parts of her story as well. According to this police report from the night of the shooting, she told a deputy that the assailant told her to tie Chip's hands. But just hours later
in her taped interview, the black man was tying Chip's hands. Those inconsistencies, would that
have concerned you? We're talking about who tied him?
Yes, and who shifted the truck?
Of course it would. If she was inconsistent, any inconsistencies.
And yet another serious inconsistency.
Kim's description of the assailant's gun matched a semi-automatic.
She said that when she drove away, leaving Chip at that grove, she heard five to six gunshots.
But no shell casings were recovered at the scene, and the only bullet found was the one that killed Chip.
Your own experts said that, in fact, the bullet found in Chip Flynn could have come from his own gun.
Did you find another weapon?
Well, no.
Did you ever find another shell casing to match that
weapon? No, and we wouldn't if, in fact, he was shooting a revolver. You understand that?
Did you find any other bullet holes? Bullet holes? Not that I'm aware of.
Just about then, Chip, his hands were behind his back. He leaned out of the truck and somehow
shot at the guy. But that statement was contradicted by the evidence.
Investigators found no gunshot residue on Chip Flynn's hands.
The fact that his were tested and did not show any gunshot residue contradicts her story.
I totally don't believe someone could actually jump out of that truck
and shoot a gun behind their back with their hands tied anyway.
When you look at this case,
it is all circumstantial. I would love to have had a stronger case, but it is what it is.
As for those shoe prints at the park, criminalist Lisa DiMaio, who helped Crosley's defense team,
told us that the diagram shown at trial contradicts the actual crime scene video.
shown at trial contradicts the actual crime scene video. The shoe prints after proceeding west will then continue on around just to the outside of this fence.
If these were the tracks of the assailant, they should end where the truck was parked, around here.
But in fact, DeMeo says they continue past the truck along the fence, as you just heard, and appear to leave the park.
How could they belong to the assailant if, in fact, he got in the truck back here?
They couldn't.
No, no, they couldn't.
The trail of prints leaving Holder Park is missing from the diagram.
This diagram supports Kim Hallick's story,
but this diagram doesn't match the evidence at the scene? Correct. This was necessary to make her
story fit. What's more, every one of the three witnesses who testified that Crosley Green
confessed recanted after trial.
There's a pattern that supports the fact that these folks were coerced.
When a sister testifies against her own brother and says he confessed,
it's hard to believe that could be coerced.
Absolutely. She recanted almost immediately. We tracked down Sheila Green in 1999.
What did they say would happen if you didn't testify against your brother? I would never see
my kids again. She told us she had no choice but to lie on the stand. Did Crosley ever tell you
that he killed Chip? I never even talked to Crosley.
He never told me that.
Basically, they told me that this was my last chance to help myself because I was already convicted.
But this is your own brother, Sheila.
He will understand.
You think he will?
Yes.
He will.
He know I did.
What do you make of Kim Halleck's account?
Chip's parents recorded Kim's account of the night Chip was shot.
Hear what she said happened on Facebook at 48 hours.
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Florida had a long history of being engaged in slavery and the plantation economy
that has passed itself on to the criminal justice system here in this state.
Kenneth Nunn, a professor at the law school at the University of Florida,
says the odds were stacked against Crosley Green in that Florida courtroom.
I would say that Crosley Green's case is a miscarriage of justice.
If you read the trial transcript, the prosecutor was using race to fill the gaps in the evidence.
During trial, the defendant's race was referred to 140 times.
I told Chip, there's a black guy on your side.
She accuses a black person of committing this crime.
Who are they going to believe?
And what has defined this case from the very
beginning is that Kim Halleck
was treated as a victim,
never as a possible shooter.
Everybody on the scene is a
suspect until they're not. Every single
person is tested for gunshot
residue. That's not what
happened here. To this day, first responders Diane Clark and Mark Rixey question why Brevard
County detectives failed to do even a basic investigation of Halleck. Kim Halleck was
taken in and questioned at 4 30,, but not recorded until 8.20.
And what does that say to you?
Well, she had time to get her story the way she wanted it.
She was not a suspect.
Did it ever occur to you or anyone else that maybe Kim Halleck wasn't telling the truth?
Well, of course it did.
Former prosecutor Christopher White. And why wasn't she ever investigated. Well, of course it did. I mean, it always does. Former prosecutor Christopher White.
Then why wasn't she ever investigated?
Why was she never a suspect?
What do you mean?
No GSR taken of her hands?
Why not?
I don't know if there was or wasn't at this point.
There wasn't?
Why weren't pictures taken of her hands, her arms,
to see if she had any injuries?
I guess they could have done more examination. I'll give you that, OK? Crossley Green's lawyer, her arms, to see if she had any injuries. I guess they could have done more examination.
I'll give you that, okay?
Crossagreen's lawyer, Keith Harrison,
finds it mind-boggling.
Chip Flynn had broken up with Kim Halleck.
He was seeing another woman.
Kim Halleck was very upset about that.
That's the oldest motive in the book.
Jealousy.
Jealousy.
Still, why took Kim Halleck at her word.
You've got to understand, it's kind of a small community here in Titusville.
Kim Halleck lived in the area where I lived.
I don't see how there's anything here concrete to tell anybody that Kim Halleck lied.
But there were those obvious red flags with her story.
There was no moon on the night Chip Flynn was shot. It was completely dark in that orange grove.
Based on her testimony, she said she didn't get a really good look at him.
Yet Kim Halleck chose green out of this photo lineup, a flawed lineup, Professor Nunn says, that is no longer allowed
under Florida's current laws. You can't tell the witness that the suspect is in the batch,
and that happened in this case. You have to make sure that the photograph matches all the other
photographs. His head is smaller than the other ones, so he stands out. Would you do
this today? Well, no. No, ideally I would not. Could she have picked the wrong person?
I don't think she did, you know. Was she guessing more than she was sure? I couldn't tell you for
sure. That still leaves you with the issue whether or not it's Crosley, and you have arguments pro
and con about that. But the one thing I'm sure of, based on the evidence in this
case, it wasn't Kim Halleck. She was the only other one there. Who else would have done it?
The only way all the facts are reconciled is if she shot him. I told everybody I ran into who had
any interest in it, I thought she did it. I told the homicide sergeant. I told the homicide investigator.
And four months after the shooting, both Rixey and Clark met with prosecutor Christopher
White. They wanted to make sure he knew of their suspicions of Kim Halleck. And how did
Chris White take that information?
He was dismissed, dismissive.
I said to him, she is involved
and I don't believe it's a person you arrested.
I never heard anything else about it afterwards.
I think that they got into an argument.
She pulled the gun out of the glove box
and either intentionally or unintentionally shot him.
They freak out.
I don't want to get in trouble.
We got to come up with a story.
Let's make up this story.
Why didn't you take their words seriously? I reviewed all the evidence that we had with
that hypothesis in mind. Do they give me cause to believe that Kim Halleck may have committed
this murder? My answer is no. You're that sure that Crosley Green is innocent. I would bet my life on it, yes. But in 2011
years after Chip Flynn's murder, the state claimed it had more evidence
against Green. Two tiny body hairs allegedly found in Flynn's truck. They
tested them for DNA. Matter of fact, I wanted them tested. I knew I haven't been
in that truck. I've never been in that truck.
There was sufficient DNA there to obtain a result using MTA DNA. That DNA mitochondrial
cannot be used to identify a specific person. It can only identify broad family relations
and Crosley Green could not be excluded from that group.
It's not a match. The mitochondrial DNA test cannot definitively say this DNA is this
individual's DNA. Crosley's maternal relatives, for example, would be in this group that is
not excluded. In fact, Crosley's brother O'Connor believes the hairs could be his. He happened
to be a friend of the original owner of the truck.
It's possible because I drove the truck kind of regular. I'm not saying I drove the truck
one or two times. I drove the truck several times.
Are you at all troubled by the fact that Crosley Green could not be eliminated?
That's nothing. That's not evidence. That is not evidence.
It does not tie him specifically to that truck.
You have that one hair that could have come
from someone else, his brother.
Uh-huh.
Is there any other physical evidence,
any other physical evidence, anything,
that connects Crosley Green to this case?
Well, I guess the simple answer to that is no.
In 2009, after 19 years facing execution, Crosley Green's attorneys won a major victory.
Because of an error in sentencing, Green was taken off death row. I felt real good at that time,
but I know I have another hundred yards to go. But Crosley Green's request for a new trial was
denied, even though some of the evidence was now in question, and all those witnesses who
testified against him said they lied on the stand.
Have you ever had a case where three witnesses have recanted and lied?
Have you ever had a case? Three.
You know, I never have.
That doesn't trouble you?
Not coming from those people with those ties to the Green family
and the Green family being what it is, no, it doesn't trouble me a great deal.
But in an odd twist of fate, Christopher White provided just what
Crosley Green's defense team had been waiting for.
I was shocked. I knew immediately that this was a game changer. I'm ready to go home.
Hopefully I get that chance to go home.
I've been without my family for quite some time now.
for quite some time now.
Crosley Green was just 19 when his parents died and he assumed the role of Papa to his large family,
which is why Crosley's murder conviction
was so deeply felt by his oldest child, Shuma,
his brother, O'Connor, and sisters, Shirley and Debra.
I hope and I pray that one day Papa will be set free
because he didn't do what they say he did.
I worry about him a lot.
And it's breaking the family.
It's breaking the family down.
Watch it.
Y'all go over that way some.
Shuma was 16 and his brother Gaston was 6
when Crosley was sentenced to death.
It damaged us. I got rebellious. I just
went to getting in trouble. No sense of direction
because my dad was gone. I never was with my
sons when they grew up. I got grandkids now. I don't know
how much time I got left on earth myself, but the little
time I will have left,
if I'm out there, it will be with them.
But Crosley Green will never be able
to make up lost time with two of his sisters.
They died while he's been in prison.
Brenda and Tina, that's been tough.
That's been tough.
They have been with me all the way up until the time they die. You miss them?
Look.
As for Sheila, the sister who helped put him on death row,
he forgave her years ago.
Does she feel a lot of guilt? sister who helped put him on death row, he forgave her years ago.
Does she feel a lot of guilt?
Of course she do, but that's my sister and I want her to know that I love her.
No matter what, I'm not angry at her.
Okay?
With the witness recantations, the only person who still connects Crosley to the crime is Kim Hallick.
As you sit here today, do you believe Crosley Green is the man who shot Chip Flynn? Yes, I do. Yes, I do. But as it turns out, Christopher White made a decision in 1989
that would ultimately turn the tide for Crosley Green. Mark and Diane suspect the girl did it.
She changed her story a couple of times. White took these notes after his meeting with Mark
Rixey and Diane Clark when they told him their suspicions about Kim Halleck.
One thing was she tied his hands behind his back. She never asked how the victim was while
at the homicide. She wouldn't go down there to the scene. Why wouldn't the guy say who shot him?
White never turned those notes over to Crosley's original lawyer.
This is the evidence of innocence that was hidden by the prosecutor.
What was your reaction when you first read those notes?
I was shocked. I really couldn't believe it.
They can't just hide that evidence. They can't cover it up.
They have to disclose it to the defense.
Defense attorney Gene Thomas says those notes,
which included inconsistencies in Kim Halleck's story,
would have been crucial at trial.
It goes to the heart of the defense theory of the case,
that there was no black man at the scene of this
crime, that it was these two teenagers, that there was an accident, and then there was
a story that was made up after the fact.
Those notes would have had a tremendous impact on the case.
And for that reason, in July 2018, a federal judge ruled that by withholding those notes, prosecutors violated Crosley Green's right to a fair trial.
His conviction was overturned.
It was a miracle that finally there was a court that said, yes, his constitutional rights were violated.
When his conviction was overturned, what did you think would happen?
Man, I thought my brother would be home.
But Crosley didn't come home because the state appealed,
arguing that the notes that Prosecutor White withheld
wouldn't have changed the outcome of the original trial.
Crosley was held in prison, waiting for the Court of Appeals to decide.
Honestly, I did not think it would take this long.
But then, the coronavirus invaded the prison where Crosley Green was held.
His situation became even more precarious after he was diagnosed with latent tuberculosis.
In March of 2021, Crosley's attorneys filed a motion for his immediate release.
This is the day that we long for, God. And we thank you, Father, for opening the doors that men have shut for us.
Father, we thank you for those that you gave us favors with, Father God.
For you bringing our brother home across the street. I can't tell you where I was thinking or what I saw or how I felt.
Oh, that's right.
Oh, you had a father.
Papa, I'll get up.
Thank you.
I was just looking around wondering, is this for real?
At one point, I was really wondering, is this for real?
Thank you, Jesus. Thank you.
Thank you, brother.
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It's just the best idea yet.
Now that Crosley Green is home, his very large and loving family has descended upon him. Everybody wants a piece of the man they know as Papa Green.
I thought maybe it would be kids that really want to be with me,
want to talk with me.
The grown-ups be making the kids get out of the way.
They push the kids to the side.
They want to be first.
Crosley has a lot of catching up to do.
So many relatives weren't even born when he went to prison.
If it wasn't for my family, I wouldn't be here. My sister, Celestine, she always told
me, don't give up. Your day gonna come. I used to always say, all right, girl, when
I get out, we gonna do things. You know, but that day never came. She died.
Crosley's sister, Celestine, is buried in a cemetery just down the road from where he's staying.
But he can't visit her grave or go almost anywhere else without special permission from his probation officer.
I was told I couldn't go to the mailbox.
He's free, but right now can't venture beyond his brother-in-law's property line. Show me, take me a little bit where you can go. How far here?
About right here.
Crosley calls it his 12 yards of freedom and showed me his new jailer.
Here it is right here. This ankle brace is right here.
It's challenging for him. Crosley has many, many
grandchildren, most of whom he's never met. He wants to take them to a park and go fishing and
teach them how to fish and, you know, sit under a tree and tell stories. And he can't do that.
tell stories, and he can't do that. At least not until the U.S. Court of Appeals hands down its decision. But he is at home. He is with family and lots of sounds of laughter and joy in that house,
and so he's in a much better place. If the court does rule in Crosley's favor, the state of Florida
will have 45 days to decide if they want to recharge and retry Crosley's favor, the state of Florida will have 45 days to decide if they want to recharge and
retry Crosley Green for the murder of Chip Flynn. There's only one person that connects him to this,
right? Kim Halleck. That's it. That's, that's right. She's the star witness for the state.
In fact, in a lot of ways, she's the only witness for the state. In fact, in a lot of ways, she's the only witness for the state.
Kim Halleck has not responded to our repeated requests for an interview.
I mean, if there's a new trial, it's not going to just be Crosley Green who's on trial, is it?
Well, in any trial, the credibility of the witnesses is a key factor.
You can be sure that some of the inconsistencies in Kim Hallick's story would, of course, be a feature.
If there is a second trial, believe me, it will be very, very different.
The jury's going to be able to hear all the evidence.
Retired Brevard County Deputy Sheriff Mark Rixey and Sergeant Diane Clark
both say that if there's a new trial, they will take the witness stand for Crosley.
In a minute, an heartbeat.
There's so much that we know now that we didn't know then that I will also be testifying
for the defense. But there is also a chance that the appeals court will side with the state,
reinstate Crosley's conviction, and send him back to prison. Crosley understands that. It was really tough though to explain that to his family.
You know, that was met with disbelief.
But it is a real, it's a real possibility.
What do you do if the court does rule against Crossley?
Well, we'll keep fighting.
We will take the case to the Supreme Court if that becomes necessary.
We're certainly not going to stop. Does that
ankle bracelet also remind you that your time home might be temporary? It does. I got to be
honest with you, it does. But I really don't believe I'm going back. I really believe that
deep down in my soul, I'm not going back to prison. This case is really bigger than just about one man who's been wrongfully convicted.
This case goes to fundamental fairness in our criminal justice system.
No one knows exactly how long it will be before there's a decision.
It could be days, could be months.
But until then
Crosley is enjoying family and freedom. And the little things that the
rest of us take for granted, like a nap on the sofa or a hot meal. You could
never make any decisions for yourself for 32 years. That's right. That's right. Is that hard
getting used to or does it just feel great? It just feels great. I still wake up at
the same time I did when I was in Calhoun. You know what I do? I walk out the door and
look up and say thank God I'm free. Thank you, Jesus.
What do you think the state of Florida should do with Crossley Green's case?
Look at the evidence in this case at 48hours.com.
They have chapters all across America and we're at the center of the attack on the Capitol.
Who are the Oath Keepers?
A large percentage have tactical training and operational experience in either the military or law enforcement.
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