The Breakfast Club - INTERVIEW: April Hurley Opens Up On Her Attack, Trauma, Motherhood & More With Billy Murphy & Malcolm Ruff

Episode Date: June 27, 2024

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Wake that ass up in the morning. The Breakfast Club. Yep, it's the world's most dangerous morning show, The Breakfast Club. Charlamagne Tha God, Jess Hilarious, DJ Envy had to step out, but we have some special guests with us right now. We have a young lady named April Hurley, and she is here with her attorneys, Malcolm Ruff and Bill Murphy. Good morning to you all.
Starting point is 00:00:19 Good morning. April, I know this might be traumatizing, but could you please explain to the people why you are here this morning? Tell them your story. So I'm here with you guys today, this morning. Back in September, I became a victim of a violent attack that occurred in Baltimore, Maryland. Jason Billingsley literally tried to kill me.
Starting point is 00:00:49 And this could have been prevented had the property management company made the right decisions and taken the precautions, you know, to check into his background and to see, you know to check into his background and to see you know what he was into prior to giving him this role so he was the maintenance guy in your building yes right okay so um you know it was it was a very very traumatizing incident um and i'm i'm just i can't believe i'm alive even you know to this day even
Starting point is 00:01:28 riding up here you know i just thank god every day that i wake up because it's a different feeling um having someone try to take your life from you so he um i hate to be graphic with the details but i would for the sake of the story he slashed your throat and he set you on fire. Yes. Wow. Yeah, and actually you can see she still bears serious scars. That's horrible, man. Yeah, I mean, it's some stuff that you could never even imagine.
Starting point is 00:02:00 It's like something out of a movie where somebody who has the ability to have access to someone's personal home. As you know, your home is your castle. Absolutely. It's the place you should feel the most safe on the entire planet. And because of the lack of security protocols, the lack of looking into Mr. Billingsley's background, number one, he was a twice convicted sex offender. Shouldn't have been on the street at all. He had been released early.
Starting point is 00:02:29 And by all accounts, he was trying to operate in the world, but everyone knew what he was about. And he showed his true colors, not only with April, but then after this incident a few days later, which brought so much attention to this entire situation, he ultimately is alleged to have killed a young lady named Pavel Leper, who was a tech CEO startup guru in Baltimore. Somebody who was really, really deeply entrenched in the Baltimore tech community and was very well known to government leaders and, and people alike. And that's really what built the momentum around this entire situation is that
Starting point is 00:03:12 this man was a psycho killer and luckily he is now in prison and will face the music in the criminal case against him. And also in our civil lawsuit that we filed against him on behalf of April. But this man was not to be trusted to be allowed in somebody's personal space like this. And he did exactly what his stripes showed he would do and had done in the past. And he did it again to April. It was really, really harrowing. If you're a resident of a building or a neighborhood and you're a registered sex offender. You have to let everybody in the neighborhood know.
Starting point is 00:03:45 Shouldn't it be the same if you have an employee of a building? It would seem so. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And perhaps the law needs to be changed to make that happen. That's a good point. And, you know, there are two kinds of sex offenders, those that are one-off and those that are compulsively committed to doing it over and over and over again.
Starting point is 00:04:09 And he's that kind of guy. And we've got to protect people against people like that. And it's got to be more stringent protection. There's got to be consequences when you don't protect people. And when you're a mandatory reporter of a sexual event, you've got to make sure you step up to the plate and report it. And some people are too scared to do it. So it's not a perfect system at all
Starting point is 00:04:34 and it's got to get better. What I thought was said and interesting was that April's story didn't get much light shed on it until the murder of Pavla, you know, and her being. And blessings and healing energy toward her family because she didn't deserve that either.
Starting point is 00:04:54 But it's just sad that she was a survivor. And then, you know, and he didn't just go, he was going after her. I believe he prayed on her because I'm familiar with the story. I saw it. He prayed on her but like he also had it was someone else it was one of your friends right your boyfriend or yeah so it was a friend at the time that had happened to stay the prior to the morning of the incident. And, you know, I don't think that he expected anyone else to be down there with me. Right.
Starting point is 00:05:35 I don't know. But, you know, at that point, it was obvious, you know, that he was there to do harm to me specifically. You know, so. But the other person kind of spooked him a little bit? I would assume so, yes. You know, but I can't say for sure. But obviously it wasn't, he wasn't that spooked. And he then, he tied April up.
Starting point is 00:06:00 He tied the other gentleman up, who's also our client as well. They were tied up and tortured in a basement apartment. I mean, you just can't imagine going through something like that. And so I think we really appreciate y'all's interest in the story because of her heroism. You know, she saved this young man's life by escaping that apartment. I mean, jumping out of a window after being set on fire by a man who was intent to kill you and calling for help, getting Jontae out of that apartment. She was a real life hero that night and had to save her home life, had to save another person's life, all because of somebody who had no respect for human life whatsoever.
Starting point is 00:06:44 And then honestly, I feel like if it wasn't for you going numb after a certain point of time from all the pain that he had inflicted, like, I feel like, you know, she could have lost her life from just the pain, the burns and slit in her neck just to torture. Because he would cut it not enough to have an immediate death, you know, for you to have an immediate death. But he, he like tortured her and thank God that your baby wasn't there. Because you have a young child. And I just, I'm happy, you know, because at one point he had asked about your child as well, right? Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Look, I did criminal law for years.
Starting point is 00:07:25 This is the most gruesome thing I've ever seen. It was beyond sadistic, beyond devilish, beyond any horror you can think of. No mercy.
Starting point is 00:07:41 I had no mercy, no compassion, no restraint. He just did his mercy, no compassion, no restraint. He just did his thing, and it was ugly. April, have you gone on any type of healing journey from this incident? Because I can clearly look at you, and rightfully so, you're visibly triggered. I don't even like having this conversation, to be honest with you. But have you started a healing journey?
Starting point is 00:08:03 Yes, I do go to therapy um weekly um i do have group sessions that i attend um you know i am able to call on people that care about me and love me and you know just get advice or you know if just get advice or, you know, if I'm not feeling like myself or if something does trigger me, you know, I'm learning how to cope with certain things, you know, but the trauma, it doesn't just go away, you know. So it is a, it's going gonna be a long journey um it's something that i could never forget but you know through hopefully through therapy and um you know different walks of life moving forward um hopefully i can learn how to you know feel safe again. So that's what I've been working on. One of the things she's doing is learning self-defense principles and pistol training.
Starting point is 00:09:12 Beautiful. And I've never been in favor of gun control for black folks. I think all black folks should have a firearm. I agree with you. I'm 2A all day. I believe owning a firearm in this country as a black person is a form of self-care. Absolutely, because look, we don't know what's going to happen
Starting point is 00:09:30 if Donald Trump gets elected. And revolution is something that we've never had to talk about before, but others are talking about it. And so when you hear enough of that talk, you've got to be ready. Even forget Trump, just look at what April goes talk, you've got to be ready. Even forget Trump.
Starting point is 00:09:46 Just look at what April goes through. I got four daughters. You know what I mean? I want them to know how to handle a firearm and be licensed to carry it because of situations like that. Absolutely. I would definitely encourage every young woman to take their safety very seriously. Whether you're nervous, whether you've never had any experience,
Starting point is 00:10:09 you know, seek professional advice, seek professional classes to gain that confidence, learn your laws and how to safely operate, you know, self-defense weapons because you never know like never in a million years would i had ever thought that i would wake up to something like this um and i just thank god that my daughter wasn't there yeah and it is you know the the fear moving forward is is very very traumatizing. You know, there's points where I wake my daughter up from her room and have her come sleep with me because I'm nervous that something could happen because of what happened.
Starting point is 00:10:57 Yeah. How old is your baby? She's three. Three. I want to recommend my good sister, Robin Evans. She has an organization called Chicks With Triggers. And everything you just said is what she teaches. She teaches self-defense with firearms, knives.
Starting point is 00:11:11 She teaches you the laws of the state that you live in, all of that. So anybody out there, if you're listening, look up Robin Evans, Chicks With Triggers, to learn how to properly defend yourself. Avery, you got the 444, the angel numbers on your neck. Did you have that before this incident? Yes. Wow. Wow.
Starting point is 00:11:29 You know, that means you are completely surrounded by angels. You're being guided through whatever you are focusing on. So when you was going through this experience, was that on your mind? Oh, I was praying the whole time. Wow. The whole time. Wow. I did not stop praying you know um I couldn't
Starting point is 00:11:49 even cry because I was so focused on praying because I truly believe that God has the final say so um so I was just you know thinking of how how can i get out this situation if the opportunity presents itself and um you know just praying when you when you were thinking that um what was going on when i was thinking that you'll have to retell that. As far as what? What made you go out the window like that? Oh, he thought I was dead. Yeah. Like, you know, he had drug me across to the other side of the room. I appeared unconscious, but I wasn't.
Starting point is 00:12:42 And I was very weak. And I knew at that point, you know, that he was going to set the room on fire so I just waited he had removed the handcuffs for me and I had just waited for the fire to be lit and I said once he runs out of this room, I'm getting out this window. And I'm only five foot two. The window was at least six foot. You know, I had to climb on top of things to try to open the window to then pull myself out of the window while on fire, while my throat is slit. That's only God. It's crazy.
Starting point is 00:13:33 She went from what she told me was literally living her best life to being in shock trauma with terrible burns and terrible scars, both internally and externally. And I just can't say it to you enough how in awe we are of your strength. And your courage. Yeah. Who was the first person to come to your aid, April, like once you got out the window? Do you remember?
Starting point is 00:13:56 I don't 100% remember. I just remember I was just in so much shock. Like it felt like everybody was just staring at me for a minute, which I wouldn't completely disagree with. I mean, you know, this man had stripped me naked prior to, you know, all of this happening. So I'm on fire, you know, throat slit and naked screaming for help I'm
Starting point is 00:14:28 still not staring at you obviously you're in agony you're in pain I'm calling I'm trying to get like cause that was a part of the story that kinda pissed me off I'm a very emotional person and I'm like why is like people just
Starting point is 00:14:43 why are people just staring like you know or um I don't know if you can do you remember like anybody recording you or something no but I do remember um there was a lady that ran over she ran through everybody with a towel yeah and she had tried to cover me up but my skin felt like it was falling off like and um you know at that point it was everything else was just blurry you know on the just yeah it was blank you know I did it on a budget. How did y'all find her? How did y'all get in touch with her? Interestingly enough, April's mother, I had actually represented her years ago. And so after they talked and kind of went over what the sequence of events had happened
Starting point is 00:15:44 and them thinking about how justice could be achieved in this case. She called me up, and we went from there. And so we've gotten to know each other since, I guess, October of last year after that connection was made. But I think it was meant for us to be involved because, you know our history in Baltimore, this is what we do. We stand up for people that are being wronged, catastrophically injured, and have their civil rights violated. And in a way, this is a combination of all those things,
Starting point is 00:16:20 not necessarily civil rights being violated by the government, but the rights that you had as a tenant being violated by the folks that you trusted to at least reasonably do what they were supposed to do to keep you safe. And that's why we've brought the lawsuit that we have on behalf of April, because there has to be recovery. There has to be compensation for what she went through and the failures that happened that led to such a heinous result. What is the apartment complex defense? What are they saying?
Starting point is 00:16:50 Well, it would be inappropriate for us to talk about their defenses at this point. We're at the very early stages of litigation. We recently filed a lawsuit. We're just in the opening stages of exchanging information and determining the nature of all the relationships. So, you know, we don't want to, you know, muddy that well. We're going to deal with the litigation as it comes. And as we, you know, do in our natural course of business, we'll be continuing our investigation and asking the tough questions of her landlords and their agreement, not only between the property manager and the actual property owner, but with this gentleman, Mr. Billingsley, and what exactly his employment relationship was with them and how much they paid him, why they gave him access to the common areas of her home, and how they would allow something like this to happen when they knew or should have known,
Starting point is 00:17:50 and that's the standard under the law, is that this man was completely untrustworthy and should never have been placed in an opportunity to do this to her. It's just scary because you think about the people that you let in your house on a regular basis, whether it's a plumber or an electrician, anybody, HVAC person, cleaners. You really don't know the background of some of these individuals and what they're capable of.
Starting point is 00:18:16 So it's just scary to think about. But that's the thing. You have the duty, right? If you're a business owner, you have great responsibility because you have the great chance of garnering a lot of profit, notoriety. And so with great trust comes great responsibility. We just finished a trial in the Baltimore City Circuit Court dealing with a security company that didn't properly vet a security guard who ultimately shot our client and killed him by shooting him in the mouth over an argument about a bathroom in a convenience store.
Starting point is 00:18:51 Wow. Right? And her background was such that if they had actually just looked at a free database, they would have seen that she was not somebody that should have been trusted to be an armed security guard. He's leaving out that he got a $4.1 million verdict yesterday. He's a rising star. Good.
Starting point is 00:19:08 We did. Mountain is a rising star. But that case is very similar to what happened in April. We're talking about the duty of care, the duty that a property owner has to the people that they are taking money from on a monthly basis to make a profit, they at least have to make the reasonable steps to keep those people safe based on, you know, something that's reasonable and not something that's, you know, overzealous
Starting point is 00:19:35 or too expensive. It would have been perfectly reasonable for them to put his name into that database, which is called Maryland Judiciary Case Search, and to find out exactly what his record was. And if they did do that and they still put him in this position, it's even that much more heinous that they would have permitted him to be in that position. And not let their tenants know. And, you know, April, I hope you get all the money in the world. More importantly, I'm sad that this ever happened to you.
Starting point is 00:20:00 But how did it impact your your relationship with god being that you was already already such a god-fearing person like what did it do for your faith um you know i honestly believe that um god does allow certain things in our lives to happen um just to test that relationship with him you know know, if you read the Bible, the book of Job and things like that, talk about, you know, how he lost everything, but he still trusted in God. If anything, it strengthened my relationship with him because he kept me in a situation where I shouldn't be here right now but I am through you know through God's mercy um he's seen more for me in my life moving forward with having my daughter you know and being the age that I am and um the the spirit that I have you know um I would never I would never wish this on anyone yeah you know when I heard about uh Pava passing I remember I was still in the hospital and I remember you know begging
Starting point is 00:21:14 begging them to find him and to make sure that this never happened to someone else, you know, and I always would think, like, why did this happen to me? But, you know, I pray about it and I pray about it. And that's what I get from it is that God, you know, he kept me to be able to speak on, you know, what happened, to be able to help identify the person who did this, um, to be able to, you know, be motivation for those who might not have a relationship with God or might be thinking that this is the end for them. Um, you know, as cliche as it sounds, it does get better, you know, um, there is light at the end of the tunnel you know and everything that we go through is not meant to break us um so it is is definitely mind over matter um and it's it's definitely strengthened my relationship with god a lot so question for michael and bill you know i'm getting
Starting point is 00:22:19 slow in my old age so after this man did this the april he didn't go to jail he was still on the screen oh no he's in jail i know i know he's in jail now i'm talking after this man did this, the April, he didn't go to jail? He was still on the street? Oh no, he's in jail right now. I know he's in jail now, but I'm talking about after he did it the April. Oh yeah, no, he escaped. That was the reason why he set the place on fire, right?
Starting point is 00:22:32 That was not only to try and I guess get rid of evidence, right, the them, number one. He tried to kill them, right? He tried to get rid of any evidence that was in that room, but it also created the diversion he needed to get out of there.
Starting point is 00:22:45 So three days later, yes, he was at the door of Pavel LePere's apartment building and somehow managed to get her alone. And he allegedly sexually assaulted her and killed her as well. There's a police angle to this, too. Yeah, that was exactly where I was about to go. Sometimes we have the same mind. And, Jess, I think you were kind of mentioning it earlier, but one of the more tragic parts of this whole situation is that, as you know, being from Baltimore,
Starting point is 00:23:22 we have the term the black butterfly and the white L in Baltimore City. The white what? The white L in Baltimore City. And so it basically- The white what? The white L. Okay. So in Baltimore, the map, you can tell that the concentration of folks that are more, you know, of the majority culture live right down the center and to the east of downtown Baltimore. And then the rest is the black butterfly that kind of expands out into the shape of the city.
Starting point is 00:23:44 From above. And so where April was, was a part of the black butterfly. When the police found out what had happened to her, you would think that they would have put an APB out and said, there is a psycho killer on the loose. Instead, what they said was, this is an arson incident. Knowing that it was much worse than that. Not an accident.
Starting point is 00:24:11 Just a lie. Two people kidnapped. Attempted murder. Attempted murder. Tortured. Sexually assaulted. Tried to burn them to death. And the police reported it as an arson.
Starting point is 00:24:23 Now, three days later. While I'm in a coma. Right. Three days later, literally.7 miles away from April's apartment, but in the white L. I was going to say, it was in the L. Across MLK. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:24:38 An incident happens to a white woman, and that could have been prevented if there was this APB and the people of these neighborhoods knew exactly what was going on and what the risk was out there and the threat that was out there. And eventually, after Pava's incident occurred, I mean, there were all kinds of law enforcement officials looking for him, and they ultimately found him at a train station. And the response was great because they knew, everyone knew how serious the threat was. But why wouldn't the police make it very clear what kind of threat was out there when it happened to somebody, a young black woman in the black butterfly, as opposed to a young white woman in
Starting point is 00:25:18 the white L? It's just a question of equity that we talk about, right? It has nothing to do with the lawsuit, and I'll readily say that. We're not looking at going after the Baltimore City Police Department in this case. But it's something that needs to be addressed. It's something that needs to be talked about because there's no reason why her incident would have been treated differently other than the obvious. And that's why we're unapologetically a black firm aimed at helping black people to rise up above and beyond our oppression and most importantly our oppression state of mind. And if white folk were doing what they were supposed to do to undo what their forefathers have done
Starting point is 00:26:05 and undo what they continue to do. That would not be a necessary attitude. There would be a partnership. That's right. But because there has never been an adequate partnership between whites and blacks across the board to eliminate racism, we're going to be stuck with it for a long time.
Starting point is 00:26:26 And because of that lack of partnership, that's why, you know, what happened to April, something even worse happened to, you know, Yeah, yeah. And see, if you don't have that separatist state of mind where you don't raise the red flag for her, it's going to spill over into the white community. It's going to hurt whites, maybe, as in this case, worse than it hurt April.
Starting point is 00:26:53 Martin Luther King Jr. said it the best. An injustice anywhere is a threat to justice anywhere. That's exactly right. And we're still stuck in the mud of not getting enough support to overcome it. How did this impact your relationship with Jante? I'd rather not comment on that.
Starting point is 00:27:18 Got you. What about your parents? I know they're kind of scared to let you out there. You know, you're grown. But I know it's like, because I now remember you mentioning your dad. I know he was furious. Listen.
Starting point is 00:27:37 That's baby girl. Yeah, my dad definitely. I feel like he reacted as any loving, caring father would. He has four other children, and I'm the oldest of his kids, and so it definitely hit him a lot different. He's a tough guy you know um but I could tell that it hurt him you know very very deeply um very protective you know needing to know what's going on where I'm at who I'm with you know like I'm 15 again um but you know I'm thankful that I do have him you know to be there um my mother oh my gosh and she lives all the way in Texas so it's you know the constant phone calls if I don't
Starting point is 00:28:37 answer the first or second time she's texting everybody hey have you heard from April you know because she's assuming that something might have happened again yeah you know and she's texting everybody hey have you heard from April you know because she's assuming that something might have happened again yeah you know and she's so far away this is traumatic for them too and she like you say she's far away and it's going to happen I mean she would have to get on the plane and she would have to like it takes time yes yes so um you know but it is a little frustrating sometimes but you know I'm a mother as well so I think about it like I said you know I wake my daughter up in the middle of the night to come sleep with me because I I couldn't imagine ever feeling what my mom had to feel when I went through this you know so I'm just I'm thankful that they have been here for me and that they continue to be here
Starting point is 00:29:33 for me and I'm just thankful for all the support that I'm getting for everybody because you know it does help motivate me to keep going yeah one thing one thing I learned in therapy was that I always said my father raised me out of fear as opposed to love. Yes. He just simply didn't want me to make the same mistakes that he made. I agree. Like, that's what I'm trying not to do with my daughters.
Starting point is 00:30:00 But it's hard, right, because of the world we live in. Right. So what you've been through, the traumatic experience you've been through, how are you raising your daughter with love and not fear? It's interesting because, I mean, she's three years old. So, you know, she wants to explore. She wants to learn. She wants to, you know, run off.
Starting point is 00:30:21 She's very social. We could be at the store, and she wants to run up to strangers and say, hey, can I can I say hi to this person? And I have to explain to her that, you know, it's OK to be polite, but we don't know them. You know, so I try to explain to her in the best way that I can for her to see both sides yes you can say hello but you need to stay next to mommy you can't you know so things like that is where I kind of um try to just help her understand those boundaries so that she is aware of what's going on around her because she is so young you
Starting point is 00:30:59 know so innocent and um like I said you, it just goes back to I could never imagine, you know, being in my mother's position. And I know I'm not God. I can't control the world and the people in it. But I want to do my best, like you said, to not teach her in fear, for her to understand you know that everyone is not a good person you know everybody is not looking out for your best interests some people are evil some people want what you have some people are just out of their mind and you know react to the first person that they see so you, you know, hopefully as time goes on, you know, I'll be able to continue, you know, just teaching her with love and understanding and kindness. And helping her set those boundaries, you know, moving forward for herself.
Starting point is 00:32:03 Because I would never want something like this to happen to my my own child let alone anyone else how old are you i'm 25 25 yes damn yeah see this raises a very interesting question about trauma because we now know uh that there's such a thing as epigenetics absolutely ep. Epigenetics is a mechanism in the human body that transfers trauma from the generation where it was inflicted
Starting point is 00:32:34 to the next generation. And that accounts for a whole lot of our behavior. It accounts for why our attitudes about slavery and segregation still persist because that trauma passes down through body mechanisms that we are understanding for the first time.
Starting point is 00:32:58 And all of y'all from Baltimore? Yes, sir. Yeah, I grew up in Baltimore City, but i went to school in Arundel county so right around the corner yeah right around the corner i try i try to minimize it a little bit because you know she won't get made fun of like I do every day yeah you know it's a time and place it's a time and place it's two o'clock good night a good time two o'clock yeah two o'clock I be mad when I don't hear it. He wanted me to come up here.
Starting point is 00:33:45 Right. He wanted to hear somebody say, hey, go get that dog. Too blue, you dude. Right. I want a hot dog. A hot dog. Yeah, a hot dog. Because they say dog.
Starting point is 00:33:55 Like, nobody got signed a dog like that. Now, this sounds like it's an easy case to win, Billy and Malcolm. But what are some of the obstacles y'all have encountered since taking on the lawsuit? Well, whether or not, first of all, the man has assets or insurance to pay the damages that will be humongous in this case. From what we know preliminarily, the property owner, whose name I will not mention, has perhaps modest wealth and unknown insurance because we haven't been able to pin that down yet. And so we are praying for her sake
Starting point is 00:34:33 that there is a mechanism to collect the tremendous damages that any jury would impose in this case. Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, I'm sorry this happened to you. It was a pleasure to have this conversation with you, but I'm sorry that we have to have this conversation. Right.
Starting point is 00:34:53 It's terrible, man. Like, I think one of the things I think about with her is this man bent her soul, but he didn't break it. He didn't break it. He didn't break it, and that's just the testament of her. But even somebody's soul being bent, that's morbid. Right? And it needs to be corrected.
Starting point is 00:35:11 And so that's why we're here. That's exactly why she's here. And being the strong woman that she is, despite the circumstances, because she's got to gain back what the with the with the evil took from her what the devil took from her we're going to claim for victory true evil yeah true evil in its deepest deepest form yeah true it's my final question what do you want people to ultimately take away from your situation what you want them to learn from this um like I said, you know, anything can happen to anyone. So I definitely want people to be smart in the decisions that they're making. And especially, you know, when you think you're
Starting point is 00:35:57 safe, you know, it doesn't hurt to go and double check. It doesn't hurt to ask for identification um you know sometimes the people that we think are supposed to be doing these things um are not or may not have done it correctly or to the extent that we would have so take your safety seriously you know um and trust in god you know that's that's my number one thing trust in God, you know, that's, that's my number one thing. Trust in God. Um, no matter what you go through, celebrate the wins and the losses.
Starting point is 00:36:32 That's right. So thank you both for what you do. Yeah. I'm so happy. I saw our story. I'm so happy. I was happy watching it. I was crying.
Starting point is 00:36:42 I'm like, this is where I'm from. What is happening? You you know like you raised the point about the black butterfly and the white owl that's bullshit like i just i can't stand how we are late you know how the butterfly is labeled you know like it's it's things that people that live in a black butterfly are not that important things that they go through are not that important you know so I just I'm happy that I did see your story um shout out to Trap and Anonymous yeah Chris Stiles yeah he he
Starting point is 00:37:11 he was amazing I was like yo can I um get a contact on her and all that and I thought he was gonna be like no because you know once you go through something like that you don't want to talk to everybody right I don't care how big your platform is or whatever you don't want to relive it by even speaking on it you know but I was happy that he did tell me well she has attorneys and she I was like damn that is so good that was so good so yeah I mean that's what this platform is for I love you too thank you for reaching out thank you I heard it you got me I told you. She a native. I told you.
Starting point is 00:37:46 I heard it. Is there a call to action? Is there something we can do to, is there something to people be calling a number? I don't know. For your firm or? Well, yeah, absolutely. Our firm is called Murphy Falcon and Murphy.
Starting point is 00:38:00 We have our senior founding partner, Billy Murphy. This actually started by my father in 1947. Wow. Absolutely. We're the oldest black firm in the United States. It's like, what, third or fourth generation? Yes. Wow.
Starting point is 00:38:10 Yes, my son is an attorney as well. Amazing. Yep. And so we were just murphyfalcon.com. Murphy like M-U-R-P-H-Y, Falcon like the bird. You can actually find me on IG. I'm brother with an A underscore Malcolm ESQ. And we certainly want people to send best wishes to April as we go through this legal journey to keep putting attention on this. And I also want to just add my last comment and advice to folks would be along the lines of what April said ask all the questions you got to be your biggest advocate especially if you're in
Starting point is 00:38:50 a relationship with a landlord or somebody that has control over your housing space to ask them I want to know who's all in your staff I want to know their background I want to know what how you will what kind of access you're giving them because that is the way that you can really protect yourself and not have to rely on the landlord doing their job, which in this case. I'll take it a step further, Malcolm. I think everybody should put in their budget a home security system and stop relying on other people to ensure your safety.
Starting point is 00:39:25 You're your best protector. Yeah. And you need to make sure that every tool in the technological toolbox that you can afford, you implement so that your space is protected. And so that when you're away, you can see what is going on in your space. When you're at work, you can see what's going on in your space. you're at work you can see what's going on in your space so you got to do that too yeah because i bet that landlord got top-notch security that's right right so do you have instagram or something uh yes i do it's it's at at big time ap so at big time ap go
Starting point is 00:40:02 to april's instagram and just show us some love, man. I appreciate it. I appreciate it. Put 444 in the comments, man. Just let her know that you see her and you hear her story and you just sending her positive energy and healing energy. Thank you for that.
Starting point is 00:40:14 Thank you. If anything happens to you out there, you know how to reach us. Absolutely. Murphy Falcon and Murphy, Billy Murphy, Malcolm Ruff, who is, by the way,
Starting point is 00:40:23 my favorite student. He soaks it up like a sponge. Thank you for coming, April, Malcolm, Billy. Thank you for having me. It's The Breakfast Club. Thanks, y'all.

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