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The Case of Everton Wagstaffe
📻 Episode #13
🎙️ Hosted by Jason Flom
📅 Feb 27, 2017
About This Episode
Everton Wagstaffe was wrongfully convicted of the rape, kidnapping and murder of 16-year-old Jennifer Negron in 1993. Everton’s conviction was based primarily on the testimony of Brunilda Capella, a 25-year-old, drug-addicted sex worker who claimed that she had seen Everton pull the victim into a Buick Skylark driven by Reginald Connor. It was later revealed,…
The Case
Everton Wagstaffe was wrongfully convicted of the rape, kidnapping and murder of 16-year-old Jennifer Negron in 1993. Everton’s conviction was based primarily on the testimony of Brunilda Capella, a 25-year-old, drug-addicted sex worker who claimed that she had seen Everton pull the victim into a Buick Skylark driven by Reginald Connor. It was later revealed, however, that the car had been parked at a church during the time that Capella claimed she had witnessed the kidnapping. The owner of the car testified that she had told the police this fact prior to Everton’s conviction, but the police didn’t write any reports of the interview. It was also revealed that Capella had been regularly providing information to the police at that time—remarkably, she testified for the prosecution in 20 cases. The Innocence Project consulted on the case and aided in testing foreign hairs found on the victim’s body for DNA, which revealed that the hairs had not come from Everton or Reginald Connor. The ruling to dismiss their charges, however, was primarily based on a revelation that prosecutors had buried evidence that Everton himself uncovered that police had targeted him before even speaking with the informant who provided critical testimony against the two men. In 2014, his conviction was ultimately vacated after serving 23 years in prison.
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In Their Own Words — transcript excerpts
Short excerpts from the episode's official published transcript, with timestamps — listen from these moments, or read the full transcript via the podcast's own platforms.
00:06:00“Speaker 1: did they come and kick in your door or like Speaker 1: did how did you end up getting arrested and what Speaker 1: were you thinking at the time. Speaker 2: Actually I was on a payphone in East New York Speaker 2: and and my car came up and took me off”
00:22:43“Speaker 2: actually give me some sense of hope because I said, Speaker 2: you know, one day it's going to be me, because Speaker 2: I know the truth adventure was going to vindicate me. Speaker 2: Were you angry when I was first convicted. I actually Speaker 2: sit and cry and ask God why me? You know,”
00:38:04“Speaker 1: on it, not only from a public safety perspective, where Speaker 1: we know that men and women who've been through an Speaker 1: education program in prison when they come out are extremely Speaker 1: unlikely to reoffend. But how important was it to you Speaker 1: to have that education option or that education program available”
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