Stray Bullet Page #2

Scary.

I want them to be able to play outside...

...without me having to worry about getting them

getting hurt or somebody's coming for us, you know?

So I'd rather just leave and leave everything behind.

As long as they're good, I'm good.

I don't want to lose another one.

Florida is ready for you.

Or you're ready for Florida.

-[laughter] -Really.

-Are you excited? -You're gonna be fine.

Yeah.

-Are you? -Yeah.

Really? Like you're not gonna miss--

Yeah, I'll gonna miss you guys.

-Oh, you guys. -Us guys.

But you're not gonna miss the dump.

-No. -Not at all.

It stinks.

[Alexis] I look at it as

being a blessing.

It's a new beginning, it's a new start.

This, out here, this town is just devastating.

Everywhere she turns, it's a memory.

Everywhere she turns, she hears,

"Okay, there was a shootout here."

Or something happened here.

And it's like, no 11-year-old should grow up like that.

[male bailiff] All rise.

[Judge] All right, good morning,

please be seated.

All right, hearing the matters

of March state versus March the entity,

State versus Jhymiere Moore.

State versus Jeffry Ellerbee, indictment 15030149.

All right, but here's the thing, you know,

it's a very important case.

As I've stated this in the past, to both the defense

and the prosecutor. We've got to get this case moving.

What about, any, Mr. Bright?

Yes, Judge, I would think it only be fair to all parties

to set this matter down for a trial date.

My client's been sitting in a jail a year and a half.

[Judge] Absolutely, absolutely.

Mr. Barnett Perview, I know you want a trial date

in this case, but here's what I'm gonna do.

I'm gonna give this a pre-trial conference plea cut off,

the first week of February and we will set the trial date

at that time. Any further?

No, thank you, Your Honor.

[Harley] Interestingly enough, as if the state could not delay

this case further, or put more pressure on my client,

his bail was $3,000,000, I believe, cash only.

That's not a bail.

That's just code for we're gonna keep you here

as long as it takes for your trial to come.

[Niechia MacPherson] The streets probably

got Jhymiere when he was

probably about 15, 16.

And that's when we found out that his dad

was gone, like, that's when we got the news

that his dad was arrested and it didn't look good,

and he was possibly gonna be gone for about 30 years,

and Jhymiere just felt like his father

like didn't care about him.

[Benita Gray] Jeffry's a good kid.

His father committed suicide when he was one.

He's always been a great kid.

Always helped with the rest of my kids.

Never got in trouble.

Always went to school, never gave me a hard time.

He was always a really good kid with a good attitude.

-[Harley] A few minutes. -[Judge] Yeah, I think that's--

-[Harley] That's fine. -[Judge] All right then.

[Harley] Very good, thank you.

[Niechia] Jhymiere's state of mind

right now is more or less like he knows that

he's gonna be cleared.

I said to Jhymiere, "I'm with Harley on this."

They're gunning for you.

[Harley] The public was screaming for a scapegoat.

The police needed a scapegoat.

So why not choose Jhymiere Moore,

a 19-year-old black kid with a criminal record?

Who better to pin this on than him?

[Jacques Jones] They didn't look into

this investigation properly.

They just went off word of mouth.

In their eyes, he guilty.

Especially because that's a little girl.

If I had to shoot somebody,

I would walk up to them, point blank, and shoot 'em

in the f***ing face.

You have that big of a problem

that you gotta kill somebody, right? Right?

You have that big of a problem, that big of a problem,

that you gotta take somebody's life?

Well, take their life.

It's been happening since the beginning of time, right?

People been killing people since the beginning of time.

Cain and Abel.

But you walk up to 'em and you do 'em in.

You just don't do it from across the street,

where there's a bunch of kids playing on a scooter.

[Shermaine] I just went to a funeral last month.

This happened.

I know a lot of people, it's common.

It's like you been to f***ing Vietnam

or something, you know?

Your war wounds.

You either got stab marks or gunshots,

jumping out of Paterson.

To properly police these individuals and these gangs,

you have to know their culture, you have to know

what the gangs are about.

The general make up, the hierarchy.

Identifying them, monitoring them is getting harder

and harder because there has been a decrease

in the police force, due to cutbacks and things like that,

but we're tasked to do more.

So sometimes those specialized humans

that were focusing on that, they're not there anymore.

[police radio chatter]

[Camelia Valdes] We have to talk about how gangs

are being able to make money.

Heroin is five dollars a bag.

It's fueling the drug trade,

and so when we talk about gangs,

we have to talk about not only gun violence,

reducing gun violence, but we have to keep focus on

what drugs now are being abused.

[man] He's bringing community down.

Everybody's coming up here for a needle exchange,

for needles, clean needles.

F***, why you gotta get clean needles?

Don't shoot up.

Shouldn't shoot up, right, right,

but it's for the people,

it's for the people in the backyards,

start thinking about that.

[chattering]

[Golda] I live in Tampa, Florida.

I am living with my uncle, my aunt, and my three cousins.

And then my aunt's grandmother and her daughter.

[laughter]

My mom is trying to get an apartment and a job.

She wants to work two jobs so she can make enough money

to get her own apartment.

I want to get the hook out, I want to get the hook out,

I want to get the hook out.

[laughter]

My life here in Florida is better

than actually being in Paterson.

Paterson, I'd be terrified to go even,

even across the street by myself.

It's... It's...

But here, I guess, like, I don't know,

it's calm, so I go anywhere.

[ethereal theme playing]

This is the room, the room's intact.

No holes, no damages, just a little wiping down.

Everything is intact.

[Alexis] It really sucks getting evicted.

You know, being homeless.

Destroyed.

My daughter's in Florida.

My other daughter is a buried in a cemetery.

I'm going to court.

It really messes with your head.

It really messes you up, as a man, you know?

[chattering]

A year ago today, I was at work,

getting paid, like, I was doing what I graduated school for.

My life was going where I wanted it to go,

to the point where I was like, oh right,

I'm gonna be where I got to be,

and I'm gonna be able to support my family, my children,

everything is gonna be okay now,

this is what I went to school for.

And then everything just f***ing crumbles

from your fingertips.

You folks are the folks that are leaving?

-You're all moved? -[Alexis] Yes.

-Here's your copy of this. -Thank you.

A little wet, but, since you're moving,

you're not gonna need it anymore.

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