Chronology of Alleged Police Intimidation

By: LaTasha C. Williams

On Friday, March 2, 2007, I phoned Mr. Richman to ask if I could change his original airline reservation (that I had made for him back on January 4, 2007) from March 11, 2007 to March 8, 2007 from Tennessee to Philadelphia, for Reid’s upcoming March 14, 2007 evidentiary hearing.

The first change in itinerary was due to the psychiatrist having to reschedule his appointments. Mr. Richman was re-scheduled for Friday, March 9, 2007, the day after his plane was to land in Philadelphia. The early departure was to allow enough time for Mr. Richman to meet with the doctor and then later with Mr. Silverman before the March 14th evidentiary hearing.

On Tuesday, March 6, 2007, I made a follow-up call to Richman to confirm that he had received the updated itinerary that I had sent him via e-mail. As in all previous phone conversations, he spoke with enthusiasm over testifying in the upcoming evidentiary hearing.

On Wednesday, March 7, 2007, the day before Mr. Richman was to depart Tennessee for Philadelphia, I received a message from an upset and nervous-sounding Mr. Richman asking that I call him back as soon as possible. But, before I could return his call, Reid’s attorney, Mr. Silverman rang in. The following is an account of my conversations with both men:

Mr. Silverman told me that Assistant District Attorney Emily D’Aguanno had just called him moments earlier to inform him that she had sent two Philadelphia police detectives to Tennessee to talk to Mr. Richman and that according to her, Mr. Richman had changed his mind about testifying in Reid’s upcoming evidentiary hearing, which was now only five business days away.

When Mr. Silverman finished telling me about his conversation with Ms. D’Aguanno, I then informed him of the troubling phone message that Mr. Richman had left for me, at which time Mr. Silverman suggested that I go ahead and return his call so that we could find out what was going on.

When I reached Mr. Richman at work, he still sounded shook up. He commenced to telling me how he had received a visit at work from two men who identified themselves as detectives from Philadelphia; one of who allegedly informed him that he had investigated the August 10, 1991 murder case back when it happened. Cahill, perhaps?

Mr. Richman alleges that the detectives, who were later identified as Cahill and Lynch, “threatened,” “harassed,” and “intimidated” him in an effort to dissuade him from boarding his flight to Philadelphia the next day. The following accusations are examples of some of the intimidating remarks Mr. Richman alleges Detectives Cahill and Lynch made to him:

“If you come to Philadelphia we will arrest you for perjury.”
“There is no way that you could have seen all of this from your apartment.” “This incident was at least a football field away.”
“We will get you on the perjury because Janke was not killed on the corner as you testified to in your deposition; he was killed further down on Seventeenth Street.”
“How much money did the defendant’s family and lawyer pay you?”
“Reid confessed to participating in this crime.” (The statement is contradictory to Reid’s police report.)
“We know where you live, in fact, there are (x amount of) cigarette butts in
the ashtray outside of your house.”
“We know where your family is in New Jersey”
“When we take you into custody at the airport, there’s no guarantee that the car will make it to the police station.”
“We know about the case where you got arrested down here. What was that all about? I’m sure it was for theft – wasn’t it?”

Richman also told me how one of the detectives pulled out a cell phone shortly after entering the store and dialed someone who he identified to him as being Prosecutor Emily D’Aguanno. (This tidbit is corroborated in D’Aguanno’s letter to Judge Cohen.) See Documents

When the dialed party answered the phone, Mr. Richman says that the detective who placed the call allegedly intoned, “yeah Emily, I’m standing here with the little piece of shit right now.”

Further, Mr. Richman also believes that the person identified as Ms. D’Aguanno on the other end of the line was encouraging Detectives Cahill and Lynch to keep up the alleged scare tactics because according to him, at one point in their conversation, the detective on the phone stopped talking long enough to repeat with the help of the other detective chiming in, their earlier alleged warning to him about what might happen to him if he were to show up in Philadelphia.

The newly-surfaced eyewitness identified the officer who came out to investigate his complaint as Lt. Tony Davis. Mr. Richman told me that after the Philadelphia detectives left his store, that Lt. Davis allegedly commented to him that it seemed as if “something was up with the Philadelphia detectives” and that, “They seemed really shady, especially the tall, thin one with brown hair.”

Mr. Richman says that Lt. Davis then offered to perform periodic checks around his place of business as well as at his home because he was still visibly rattled and shaken after the Philadelphia detectives had left. (Lt. Davis corroborated this in a telephone conference with me.)

Detecting fear in Mr. Richman’s voice throughout our conversation, I changed the course of our discussion to ask if he still planned to board his booked flight the following day, Thursday, March 8, 2007 to Philadelphia.

A hesitant-sounding Mr. Richman answered, “yes.” When our conversation ended, I phoned Mr. Silverman back to disclose to him what Mr. Richman had alleged and to also give him a heads up that our once eager witness now seemed skittish about testifying.

Mr. Silverman then placed a call to the scared witness to try and calm his fears. He called me back later to say that he had spoken to both Mr. Richman and his co-worker, Roger McCartt, who reportedly was also present when the detectives arrived at the store where they both work.
According to Mr. Silverman, both men repeated the same allegations concerning detectives Cahill and Lynch’s behavior. See Documents, SILVERMAN’S MARCH 18, 2007 LETTER

Mr. Silverman initially told me that he felt confident that his conversation with Mr. Richman had helped allay his fears about boarding the plane to Philadelphia and testifying in the upcoming hearing. Reflecting on the conversation, Mr. Silverman admitted in the same breath that in all reality, to him, Mr. Richman did sound somewhat iffy about testifying.

I dialed Mr. Richman back once again, but this time received no answer. I tried numerous times to no avail. It became apparent to me that he was ducking my calls. Because his flight was scheduled for the following day, out of desperation, I phoned his co-worker and roommate, Mr. McCart, with whom I had conversed with in the past and developed a good rapport. He told me that he tried to talk Mr. Richman into boarding his plane to Philly but that he was unsuccessful. He added that the detectives’ visit had “really spooked him.”

Not giving up, on the day of Mr. Richman’s booked flight, Thursday, March 8, 2007, I phoned his cell phone number hoping to find out whether or not he had actually boarded the plane. Again, his phone went unanswered. I then called Mr. McCart. According to him, Mr. Richman did not board his flight because he was scared to death that the Philadelphia police would be waiting and ready to take him into custody at the airport on a bogus charge.

On Friday, March 9, 2007, I phoned the Tennessee police department to get their perspective on what happened on the day Mr. Richman phoned them for emergency assistance.

Civilian Employee Brenda Lewis answered the phone. After identifying myself as LaTasha Williams, a Philadelphia, Pa. resident and advocate for a wrongfully convicted prisoner …, she then informed me that she was aware of the situation that prompted police to respond to Mr. Richman’s complaint. She offered that she was the one who answered his frantic call on the morning of Wednesday, March 7, 2007.

Ms. Lewis described for me how a frightened-sounding Mr. Richman called her whispering into the phone. She says that he spoke softly while telling her that he was afraid because two Philadelphia policemen were in his store allegedly harassing him about the testimony that he planned to give in an upcoming case.

According to Lewis, she then asked Richman if he wanted her to send an officer out and that the scared man replied, “he was not sure if that would be the best thing to do.”

As soon as their call ended, Ms. Lewis says she immediately apprised the captain on duty of what was going on. Ms. Lewis says that the captain told her, “Philadelphia police do not have jurisdiction in Tennessee” and then instructed her to ask Lt. Tony Davis to respond to Mr. Richman’s complaint.

Ms. Lewis also mentioned that Assistant Prosecutor D’Aguanno had telephoned Lt. Davis after his investigation of the incident but that she had not been made privy to the content of their conversation. When I asked to speak to Lt. Davis, she told me that he was out of the office until Monday. See Documents, D'Aguanno's Letter

On Monday, March 12, 2007 at approximately 8:00 a.m. e.s.t., I phoned the Tennessee police department back and spoke to Major Darrell Sherrill, who told me that he was aware of “what transpired last Wednesday,” March 7, 2007 at the pawn shop where Mr. Richman works.

The Major stated that he had received a telephone call from Philadelphia Detective Mike Cahill on Monday, March 5, 2007, during which time he says Det. Cahill informed him that he was working on a “fifteen-year-old” homicide case and would need to question local resident Wayne Richman.

In addition to asking for a criminal history on Mr. Richman dating back to when he first took up residence in Tennessee, Major Sherrill says that Det. Cahill also obtained some geographical information from him.

Major Sherrill then shared with me how Det. Cahill never informed him of the exact date he planned to come into town. Up until Mr. Richman’s call for police assistance, Major Sherrill says that he had no idea that the two Philadelphia detectives were in town.

I then asked Major Sherrill if Lt. Tony Davis was available at which time he informed me that he would not be back in the office until the following day, Tuesday, March 13, 2007 (which was the day before Reid’s hearing). Before hanging up, I requested from Major Sherrill a faxed copy of the print-out of the dispatch report of Mr. Richman’s call for assistance, and he obliged me. See Documents, 911 Dispatch

I phoned Lt. Davis the next day around 8:00 a.m. e.s.t. and introduced myself. He told me that he was the first responding officer to the pawn shop on Wednesday, March 7, 2007.

The following are his recollections of that day:

According to Lt. Davis, Mr. Richman was sitting outside the store nervously smoking on a cigarette when he arrived.

The lieutenant went on to tell me how he observed that Mr. Richman was very upset and how he remained that way while explaining in the presence of Philadelphia detectives Cahill and Lynch how they had been allegedly stalking, harassing and threatening him.

Lt. Davis says that on his approach, he asked the detective nearest the front door of the store for his identification and says that the other detective, who had been in the rear of the store, began walking towards the front of the store with his identification exposed to him. See Documents, Lt. Davis' Affidavit

Lt. Davis recalled how one of the detectives asked an already upset Richman in his presence a question about, what he believed to have been a “fifteen-year-old” homicide and how he says Richman responded to the question. According to Lt. Davis, Mr. Richman retorted, “I don’t want to talk to them” (the Philadelphia policemen). At that, Lt. Davis says the detectives replied, “Okay, w-e-l-l, it looks like our work is done.” Lt. Davis says he watched as they got into their “Explorer vehicle, shuffled through some folders in the back seat, and then drove away.”

The lieutenant told me that it was at this juncture that he then offered to patrol and conduct periodic checks around Mr. Richman’s home and place of business because he was still visibly bent out of shape.

Keeping in mind that today (March 13, 2007) is now the day before the evidentiary hearing, I mentioned to Lt. Davis how Mr. Richman was so messed up after Detectives Cahill and Lynch’s visit last week that he didn’t even board his scheduled flight to Philadelphia the next day (March 8th) to prepare for tomorrow’s evidentiary hearing.

I then informed Lt. Davis that Mr. Richman could still make tomorrow’s hearing if he left that day. Next, I clued him in on the importance of Mr. Richman’s cooperation in that he held the only known key to unlocking a door that has kept two innocent people wrongly imprisoned for the past fifteen and a half years.

Since time was of the essence and Mr. Richman had been ignoring my calls, I appealed to the police lieutenant to go to Mr. Richman’s store and try and convince him to board the next
flight out to Philadelphia. He told me that he would do what he could and call me back later.

Lt. Davis phoned me back around 3:00 p.m. e.s.t. to say that he had spoken to Mr. Richman face-to-face and that had been unsuccessful in his attempt to get him to change his mind about flying to Philadelphia for the hearing. According to Lt. Davis, he offered Mr. Richman encouragement by telling him that he should testify because he would be “doing the right thing for the men.” Lt. Davis mentions this in his affidavit. See Documents, Lt. Davis' Affidavit

Lt. Davis told me that when he first broached the subject with Mr. Richman, that the still shaken man blurted out, “there is no way in hell I’m going to Philadelphia; I know there are innocent people in prison, but I guess it’s just something that I’m going to have to live with for the rest of my life.”

Continuing, “I can’t put my family at risk; I have a seventeen-year-old son who lives right outside of Philadelphia. I have to think about other people and not just me.” I then thanked the lieutenant for his time and efforts and informed him that I would be requesting an affidavit or police report from him in the very near future.