on March 7th of 1993 I read a story in
the newspaper that I had no idea was
going to have such a profound impact on
my life after all at that time I was
working at Atlantic Records so my area
of expertise was the music industry a
far cry from prisons or justice or
mandatory sentencing laws I myself had
not had any negative interaction with
law enforcement and there’s a good
reason for that which is that I grew up
in a world of privilege my father after
all was Joe Flom the legendary attorney
and founder and leader of the powerhouse
law firm Skadden Arps Slate Martin Flom
also known as cotton that he built into
one of the biggest law firms in the
world now a little context about my dad
like that was the son of Russian
immigrants who spoke no English they
were so poor that when he grew up in
Brooklyn just him his parents and his
sister Flo yes her name was Flo Flom
like I said they didn’t speak English so
they were so poor that in those days in
Brooklyn the landlord’s would often give
you the first month’s rent for free just
to convince you to move into their
properties and so they moved every month
because they just didn’t have any money
to pay they were like nomads in New York
so dad went to City College at night
work during the day he slept on the
subway existing on a diet of chocolate
donuts and coffee because that’s what he
could afford and he never graduated
college because World War Two started so
he joined the army when he got out of
the army he wrote a letter to Harvard
Law School
considered by many the greatest law
school in the world that he said I don’t
have any money and I don’t have a
college degree but I’m the best thing
since sliced bread and if you let me in
you won’t regret it
well they gave him a full scholarship
and he went on to become one of the
greatest legal minds of the 20th century
so my dad was my hero and my mentor and
I learned so much from him but I’ll
never forget one thing he told me he sat
me down one day said son do whatever you
want to do try to be the best at it but
just remember the most important thing
is to make the world a better place if
you do that you’ll be a success in my
eyes
well I very much want it to be a success
in his eyes but that being said I was a
wild rebellious kid who always had a
joint in my mouth and I had so much hair
that it’s a miracle that I actually
didn’t set myself on fire yes that was
me I had so much hair that in the summer
as you can see I only had a tiny slot in
the front to see through so in order to
look this way I had to turn this way and
look through the hole and past my nose
which is big and then to look this way
turn this way so obviously I was very
practically blind and so through this
helmet of smoke and hair and one day the
inevitable happened I bumped into a
police officer while I was smoking a
joint now the good news for me was in
the neighborhood I grew up in the police
were less likely to rough you up and so
he just told me in a in a rough voice
put that out and I threw it away but I
knew very well that had I been from the
poor side of town or had my skin been a
different color I would have been thrown
up against the wall handcuffed and
arrested just as hundreds of thousands
of people were then and they still are
today in America so I had
sort of a dare but for the grace of God
go I’m woman I’m not particularly
religious person but I could easily see
how another person in the same situation
could be so negatively impacted and I
knew then that I could have myself
arrested or you know in some sort of
issues but when I didn’t know until I
read that story in the newspaper was how
much real trouble I could have gotten in
so one day it’s just a regular Saturday
I was on my way to play tennis or
something and I wanted something to read
in the taxi so I stopped at a newsstand
I bought a newspaper of the New York
Post well that wasn’t the taper in the
paper that I typically read but
apparently it was the paper I was meant
to read serendipity and synchronicity
are a big part of my story and this was
no exception so the headline caught my
attention Ferraro’s plea for cocaine kid
this was a story about a kid named
Stephen Lennon he was the same age as I
was 32 so it really hit me and he was
serving a sentence of a mandatory
sentence of 15 years to life in a
maximum-security prison for a
non-violent first offense cocaine
possession charge now I know that sounds
crazy because it sounds crazy to me even
though I’m saying it so let me repeat
that
15 years minimum for a non-violent first
offense cocaine possession charge I had
no idea that these type of sentences
even existed and I said I have to do so
rather than turn the page I went to the
phone book does anybody remember phone
books they used to be it so I went to
the phone book and I looked up the phone
number of his mother who was listed in
the article now the reason the article
was in the newspaper at all was because
even though it was a typical sentence
mrs. Lennon was a typical type of woman
she had gotten letters written to the
governor in hopes of getting her son
clemency Governor Mario Cuomo was the
only person that could grant clemency in
a situation like this
she had letters written from the judge
the sentencing judge the warden even
Geraldine Ferraro
who at that time was the first woman
ever to be nominated to be vice
president the United States from a major
political party so mrs. Lennon from her
humble background had accomplished all
these things but the governor had said
no we’re not gonna free him so I spoke
to mrs. Lennon I said listen you
probably think I’m some weirdo from New
York City calling you out of the blue
but I just read this story I’m freaking
out I have to do something can I send
you a little bit of money I don’t have a
lot of money I’ll send you what I can
maybe you can get a new lawyer she said
though we’ve exhausted all of our
appeals this was our last hope and she
said I I don’t understand I said I don’t
understand it either he’d been in for
eight years already and I was thinking
about my life in his life and how they
you know how the randomness of the
different fates and so I said I’m gonna
see what I can do so I called the only
criminal defense lawyer I knew the guy
named Bob Kalina now I knew Bob because
at that time I had two artists that I
had signed name skid-row and Stone
Temple Pilots and the singers were
getting arrested like twice a week so I
had Bob on speed dial so I called Bob I
said Bob is there anything you can do he
said listen there’s nothing you can do
these cases happen all the time there’s
thousands of guys like him in New York
state prisons I said to me a favor talk
to Shirley on the play talk to her he
calls me up a lot later he says listen I
have an idea it won’t work but as a
favor to you I’ll take the case pro bono
[Music]
five months later we ended up in a
courtroom in Malone New York right on
the Canadian border and I sat there
holding mrs. lenez hand with her husband
stand on the other side as they brought
her son in in shackles the prosecution
made their argument Bob made the
argument for our side the judge didn’t
give me a lot of confidence he looked
like Colonel Sanders he had white hair
he looked like a very conservative guy I
thought he’s never gonna give us a break
here you know but he said something
after the argument remains yeah it’s a
section this statute that I don’t know
what he was talking about under the
power vested in me the motion is granted
and he slams a gavel down
and Bob comes rushing over I said Bob
what happened he said we won I said we
won
that’s incredible it was literally the
best feeling I had ever had that picture
my hair was a little bit shorter still
my barber was confused but that was
taken outside the courtroom Bob on the
left and the Lennon’s in the middle as
Stephen was about to be freed
six months later I got a letter in the
mail from a woman whose name I didn’t
recognize her name was Joanne Harris
from Cincinnati Ohio I opened the letter
and the first line really got my
attention it said dear Jason you don’t
know me but you got me pregnant now I
see a couple of nervous men out there
that’s not something that any of us men
ever want to hear I’m thinking that I go
to Cincinnati nine months ago what’s
going on here so I kept on reading and
it went on to say the sister of Stephen
Lennon and for the past five years my
husband and I have been trying to
conceive and the doctor told me that the
stress of my brother’s incarceration has
prevented me from getting pregnant well
now I’m three months pregnant I just
that was another moment that I’ll never
forget so I did some research I found
out about an organization called
families against mandatory minimums
which had just started with the goal of
abolishing these mandatory sentencing
laws that led me to the drug policy
Alliance which leads to what I call the
war against the war on drugs where
they’re trying to to get a sensible drug
policy that will you know prevent people
from ending up in the system and put
them into treatment instead among other
things I myself had gone to rehab by
this point because in America if you’re
lucky and if you’re well-to-do and you
manage to avoid being arrested they send
you to rehab so I’ve been I haven’t had
a drug or anything for I don’t know how
many decades now I’m old so anyway the
next Eureka moment came when I was at my
in-laws house and I was just flipping
the channels because I was bored looking
for something to do and I saw a story on
TV about a guy named David Koepp David
Keene had been sentenced to death I was
scheduled to be executed within weeks
when a new organization called the
Innocence Project came along and
discovered the DNA from the crime scene
and proved that he could not have been
the perpetrator and he was not only was
he not executed he was freed and I
thought that is the craziest thing I’ve
ever heard it didn’t occur to me until
then that’s so often in America and all
over the world innocent people are
locked up for years decades life or even
sentenced to death as David had been so
I called the Innocence Project at that
time you could get one of the founders
on the phone because nobody else was
working there there was justice those
guys so I went in to meet with them it
was just two guys in a small room with a
briefcase and a dream barry scheck and
Peter Neufeld I said I’m in whatever you
need you got me so I became the founding
board member of the Innocence Project
and now hundreds of exonerations dozens
of legislative reforms later we’re just
getting started
we would love to be put out of business
because you know that would be the best
possible outcome but unfortunately it’s
not going to happen in our lifetimes
there’s just too many innocent people so
I’ve been thrilled to be associated with
these wonderful organizations as well as
others for 25 years now but along the
way I became obsessed with what I call
the second punishment and what I mean by
that is the challenges and obstacles
that people face innocent or guilty when
they’re released from prison and they
don’t know where to turn they can’t get
a job people look at them like they’re
somehow tainted that they’re lesser than
we are it’s difficult to get housing
there’s so many restrictions to even to
get a driver’s license or a suit or too
bright a resume is also difficult when
you’ve been in prison for decades so I
started a program for the life after
exoneration program to help with the you
know the the re-entry into society and I
co-founded something called the
innocence Network conference which is a
gathering of hundreds of exonerees from
all over the country and the world with
social workers activists and lawyers
where they learn from each other and
it’s a powerful powerful event so this
work led me to start my podcasts
wrongful conviction on wrongful
conviction I view men and women who have
been in prison for decades for crimes
they didn’t commit
some were even sentenced to death
sometimes I go inside prisons to talk to
people who I have evidence of innocence
that I want to get the word out and it’s
been such an extraordinary experience
because just being around people like
Pete Susan and all the wonderful
exonerees that I’ve had the privilege to
know it gives me gratitude in my
attitude
and typical it’s amazing because so many
people ask me aren’t they
anyone who I mean I’m talking about the
enterprise I’m always preaching about it
they say well aren’t they bitter I
haven’t met I haven’t met one yet
who has they had this sort of state of
grace that they exist in and one example
is a guy named Keith Allen Harward keith
was a guy was convicted of he was on my
podcast Keith Allen Harbor was a guy who
was convicted of a brutal crime it was a
home invasion in Virginia where the
husband was killed the wife was raped
and tortured for hours and they couldn’t
find the perpetrator so it was a lot of
pressure on the police and even though
Keith had no prior record he came in
their crosshairs and he presented a
convenient scapegoat so they framed him
he now Olive Oyl avoided the death
penalty was sentenced to life and he
served 33 years in prison before he was
even with DNA to be an innocent man and
was released and Keith was on my podcast
I said Keith how did you survive in
prison how did you maintain hope how
does that even work and he says to me
and he’s from North Carolina says the
southern accent so I’m gonna I’m gonna
mess it up but I’m gonna try to do his
accent for you now so he says to me
listen man he says you know I was
innocent so that helped and I was like
that helped that wouldn’t help me that
would it may be even crazier knowing
that I’m innocent in here the whole time
and he says well Jason I got a son man
he says uh you know when I went to
prison I said to myself you know what uh
they took my body and they took my
freedom but I’m not gonna let him take
my mind cuz if I do that I’m letting
and I said to myself this is a guy who
really has touched on the meaning of
life and I felt as if I was in as close
as I’m ever gonna get to being in the
presence of someone like Nelson Mandela
so the first time I met Keith was a few
weeks after he was released in 2015 at
the offices of the Innocence Project I
saw him in the hallway with Peter
Neufeld that same guy that I had sat in
that little office with over two decades
Peter says Jason come with us and they
took me inside a supply room I thought
why we go in the supply room and he says
to me that’s the key
show me your tattoo after I recovered my
senses I took this photograph and it
really struck me because until I saw
that tattoo I had no idea that my dad’s
law firm had represented Keith pro-bono
for over a decade alongside the image
lawyers of the Innocence Project that
at that point everything really came
full circle for me I only wish that my
dad had been alive to see it because he
would have been so happy in closing I
have a saying I’ve seen too many
miracles to stop believing in miracles
I’ve been involved in so many incredible
stories from all different types of
people amazing recoveries amazing second
chances and it just makes me think you
know I’ve learned that everyone has the
ability to affect an outcome and so what
I hope is that just once this year let’s
take an action that we wouldn’t
otherwise have taken let’s let’s let’s
correct that injustice let’s stand up
for someone who can’t stand up for
themselves the next time we see a story
in the newspaper or on the TV rather
than turn that page let’s do something
to try to get that person justice that
they deserve I believe that if we do
that we will not only transform society
we can transform ourselves thank you
very much [Applause]
the newspaper that I had no idea was
going to have such a profound impact on
my life after all at that time I was
working at Atlantic Records so my area
of expertise was the music industry a
far cry from prisons or justice or
mandatory sentencing laws I myself had
not had any negative interaction with
law enforcement and there’s a good
reason for that which is that I grew up
in a world of privilege my father after
all was Joe Flom the legendary attorney
and founder and leader of the powerhouse
law firm Skadden Arps Slate Martin Flom
also known as cotton that he built into
one of the biggest law firms in the
world now a little context about my dad
like that was the son of Russian
immigrants who spoke no English they
were so poor that when he grew up in
Brooklyn just him his parents and his
sister Flo yes her name was Flo Flom
like I said they didn’t speak English so
they were so poor that in those days in
Brooklyn the landlord’s would often give
you the first month’s rent for free just
to convince you to move into their
properties and so they moved every month
because they just didn’t have any money
to pay they were like nomads in New York
so dad went to City College at night
work during the day he slept on the
subway existing on a diet of chocolate
donuts and coffee because that’s what he
could afford and he never graduated
college because World War Two started so
he joined the army when he got out of
the army he wrote a letter to Harvard
Law School
considered by many the greatest law
school in the world that he said I don’t
have any money and I don’t have a
college degree but I’m the best thing
since sliced bread and if you let me in
you won’t regret it
well they gave him a full scholarship
and he went on to become one of the
greatest legal minds of the 20th century
so my dad was my hero and my mentor and
I learned so much from him but I’ll
never forget one thing he told me he sat
me down one day said son do whatever you
want to do try to be the best at it but
just remember the most important thing
is to make the world a better place if
you do that you’ll be a success in my
eyes
well I very much want it to be a success
in his eyes but that being said I was a
wild rebellious kid who always had a
joint in my mouth and I had so much hair
that it’s a miracle that I actually
didn’t set myself on fire yes that was
me I had so much hair that in the summer
as you can see I only had a tiny slot in
the front to see through so in order to
look this way I had to turn this way and
look through the hole and past my nose
which is big and then to look this way
turn this way so obviously I was very
practically blind and so through this
helmet of smoke and hair and one day the
inevitable happened I bumped into a
police officer while I was smoking a
joint now the good news for me was in
the neighborhood I grew up in the police
were less likely to rough you up and so
he just told me in a in a rough voice
put that out and I threw it away but I
knew very well that had I been from the
poor side of town or had my skin been a
different color I would have been thrown
up against the wall handcuffed and
arrested just as hundreds of thousands
of people were then and they still are
today in America so I had
sort of a dare but for the grace of God
go I’m woman I’m not particularly
religious person but I could easily see
how another person in the same situation
could be so negatively impacted and I
knew then that I could have myself
arrested or you know in some sort of
issues but when I didn’t know until I
read that story in the newspaper was how
much real trouble I could have gotten in
so one day it’s just a regular Saturday
I was on my way to play tennis or
something and I wanted something to read
in the taxi so I stopped at a newsstand
I bought a newspaper of the New York
Post well that wasn’t the taper in the
paper that I typically read but
apparently it was the paper I was meant
to read serendipity and synchronicity
are a big part of my story and this was
no exception so the headline caught my
attention Ferraro’s plea for cocaine kid
this was a story about a kid named
Stephen Lennon he was the same age as I
was 32 so it really hit me and he was
serving a sentence of a mandatory
sentence of 15 years to life in a
maximum-security prison for a
non-violent first offense cocaine
possession charge now I know that sounds
crazy because it sounds crazy to me even
though I’m saying it so let me repeat
that
15 years minimum for a non-violent first
offense cocaine possession charge I had
no idea that these type of sentences
even existed and I said I have to do so
rather than turn the page I went to the
phone book does anybody remember phone
books they used to be it so I went to
the phone book and I looked up the phone
number of his mother who was listed in
the article now the reason the article
was in the newspaper at all was because
even though it was a typical sentence
mrs. Lennon was a typical type of woman
she had gotten letters written to the
governor in hopes of getting her son
clemency Governor Mario Cuomo was the
only person that could grant clemency in
a situation like this
she had letters written from the judge
the sentencing judge the warden even
Geraldine Ferraro
who at that time was the first woman
ever to be nominated to be vice
president the United States from a major
political party so mrs. Lennon from her
humble background had accomplished all
these things but the governor had said
no we’re not gonna free him so I spoke
to mrs. Lennon I said listen you
probably think I’m some weirdo from New
York City calling you out of the blue
but I just read this story I’m freaking
out I have to do something can I send
you a little bit of money I don’t have a
lot of money I’ll send you what I can
maybe you can get a new lawyer she said
though we’ve exhausted all of our
appeals this was our last hope and she
said I I don’t understand I said I don’t
understand it either he’d been in for
eight years already and I was thinking
about my life in his life and how they
you know how the randomness of the
different fates and so I said I’m gonna
see what I can do so I called the only
criminal defense lawyer I knew the guy
named Bob Kalina now I knew Bob because
at that time I had two artists that I
had signed name skid-row and Stone
Temple Pilots and the singers were
getting arrested like twice a week so I
had Bob on speed dial so I called Bob I
said Bob is there anything you can do he
said listen there’s nothing you can do
these cases happen all the time there’s
thousands of guys like him in New York
state prisons I said to me a favor talk
to Shirley on the play talk to her he
calls me up a lot later he says listen I
have an idea it won’t work but as a
favor to you I’ll take the case pro bono
[Music]
five months later we ended up in a
courtroom in Malone New York right on
the Canadian border and I sat there
holding mrs. lenez hand with her husband
stand on the other side as they brought
her son in in shackles the prosecution
made their argument Bob made the
argument for our side the judge didn’t
give me a lot of confidence he looked
like Colonel Sanders he had white hair
he looked like a very conservative guy I
thought he’s never gonna give us a break
here you know but he said something
after the argument remains yeah it’s a
section this statute that I don’t know
what he was talking about under the
power vested in me the motion is granted
and he slams a gavel down
and Bob comes rushing over I said Bob
what happened he said we won I said we
won
that’s incredible it was literally the
best feeling I had ever had that picture
my hair was a little bit shorter still
my barber was confused but that was
taken outside the courtroom Bob on the
left and the Lennon’s in the middle as
Stephen was about to be freed
six months later I got a letter in the
mail from a woman whose name I didn’t
recognize her name was Joanne Harris
from Cincinnati Ohio I opened the letter
and the first line really got my
attention it said dear Jason you don’t
know me but you got me pregnant now I
see a couple of nervous men out there
that’s not something that any of us men
ever want to hear I’m thinking that I go
to Cincinnati nine months ago what’s
going on here so I kept on reading and
it went on to say the sister of Stephen
Lennon and for the past five years my
husband and I have been trying to
conceive and the doctor told me that the
stress of my brother’s incarceration has
prevented me from getting pregnant well
now I’m three months pregnant I just
that was another moment that I’ll never
forget so I did some research I found
out about an organization called
families against mandatory minimums
which had just started with the goal of
abolishing these mandatory sentencing
laws that led me to the drug policy
Alliance which leads to what I call the
war against the war on drugs where
they’re trying to to get a sensible drug
policy that will you know prevent people
from ending up in the system and put
them into treatment instead among other
things I myself had gone to rehab by
this point because in America if you’re
lucky and if you’re well-to-do and you
manage to avoid being arrested they send
you to rehab so I’ve been I haven’t had
a drug or anything for I don’t know how
many decades now I’m old so anyway the
next Eureka moment came when I was at my
in-laws house and I was just flipping
the channels because I was bored looking
for something to do and I saw a story on
TV about a guy named David Koepp David
Keene had been sentenced to death I was
scheduled to be executed within weeks
when a new organization called the
Innocence Project came along and
discovered the DNA from the crime scene
and proved that he could not have been
the perpetrator and he was not only was
he not executed he was freed and I
thought that is the craziest thing I’ve
ever heard it didn’t occur to me until
then that’s so often in America and all
over the world innocent people are
locked up for years decades life or even
sentenced to death as David had been so
I called the Innocence Project at that
time you could get one of the founders
on the phone because nobody else was
working there there was justice those
guys so I went in to meet with them it
was just two guys in a small room with a
briefcase and a dream barry scheck and
Peter Neufeld I said I’m in whatever you
need you got me so I became the founding
board member of the Innocence Project
and now hundreds of exonerations dozens
of legislative reforms later we’re just
getting started
we would love to be put out of business
because you know that would be the best
possible outcome but unfortunately it’s
not going to happen in our lifetimes
there’s just too many innocent people so
I’ve been thrilled to be associated with
these wonderful organizations as well as
others for 25 years now but along the
way I became obsessed with what I call
the second punishment and what I mean by
that is the challenges and obstacles
that people face innocent or guilty when
they’re released from prison and they
don’t know where to turn they can’t get
a job people look at them like they’re
somehow tainted that they’re lesser than
we are it’s difficult to get housing
there’s so many restrictions to even to
get a driver’s license or a suit or too
bright a resume is also difficult when
you’ve been in prison for decades so I
started a program for the life after
exoneration program to help with the you
know the the re-entry into society and I
co-founded something called the
innocence Network conference which is a
gathering of hundreds of exonerees from
all over the country and the world with
social workers activists and lawyers
where they learn from each other and
it’s a powerful powerful event so this
work led me to start my podcasts
wrongful conviction on wrongful
conviction I view men and women who have
been in prison for decades for crimes
they didn’t commit
some were even sentenced to death
sometimes I go inside prisons to talk to
people who I have evidence of innocence
that I want to get the word out and it’s
been such an extraordinary experience
because just being around people like
Pete Susan and all the wonderful
exonerees that I’ve had the privilege to
know it gives me gratitude in my
attitude
and typical it’s amazing because so many
people ask me aren’t they
anyone who I mean I’m talking about the
enterprise I’m always preaching about it
they say well aren’t they bitter I
haven’t met I haven’t met one yet
who has they had this sort of state of
grace that they exist in and one example
is a guy named Keith Allen Harward keith
was a guy was convicted of he was on my
podcast Keith Allen Harbor was a guy who
was convicted of a brutal crime it was a
home invasion in Virginia where the
husband was killed the wife was raped
and tortured for hours and they couldn’t
find the perpetrator so it was a lot of
pressure on the police and even though
Keith had no prior record he came in
their crosshairs and he presented a
convenient scapegoat so they framed him
he now Olive Oyl avoided the death
penalty was sentenced to life and he
served 33 years in prison before he was
even with DNA to be an innocent man and
was released and Keith was on my podcast
I said Keith how did you survive in
prison how did you maintain hope how
does that even work and he says to me
and he’s from North Carolina says the
southern accent so I’m gonna I’m gonna
mess it up but I’m gonna try to do his
accent for you now so he says to me
listen man he says you know I was
innocent so that helped and I was like
that helped that wouldn’t help me that
would it may be even crazier knowing
that I’m innocent in here the whole time
and he says well Jason I got a son man
he says uh you know when I went to
prison I said to myself you know what uh
they took my body and they took my
freedom but I’m not gonna let him take
my mind cuz if I do that I’m letting
and I said to myself this is a guy who
really has touched on the meaning of
life and I felt as if I was in as close
as I’m ever gonna get to being in the
presence of someone like Nelson Mandela
so the first time I met Keith was a few
weeks after he was released in 2015 at
the offices of the Innocence Project I
saw him in the hallway with Peter
Neufeld that same guy that I had sat in
that little office with over two decades
Peter says Jason come with us and they
took me inside a supply room I thought
why we go in the supply room and he says
to me that’s the key
show me your tattoo after I recovered my
senses I took this photograph and it
really struck me because until I saw
that tattoo I had no idea that my dad’s
law firm had represented Keith pro-bono
for over a decade alongside the image
lawyers of the Innocence Project that
at that point everything really came
full circle for me I only wish that my
dad had been alive to see it because he
would have been so happy in closing I
have a saying I’ve seen too many
miracles to stop believing in miracles
I’ve been involved in so many incredible
stories from all different types of
people amazing recoveries amazing second
chances and it just makes me think you
know I’ve learned that everyone has the
ability to affect an outcome and so what
I hope is that just once this year let’s
take an action that we wouldn’t
otherwise have taken let’s let’s let’s
correct that injustice let’s stand up
for someone who can’t stand up for
themselves the next time we see a story
in the newspaper or on the TV rather
than turn that page let’s do something
to try to get that person justice that
they deserve I believe that if we do
that we will not only transform society
we can transform ourselves thank you
very much [Applause]
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