but montero never cracked and maintained his innocence. kuby argued to the judge that what montero and hincapie say happened to them was easy to believe, that they were just two of many innocent people swept up by police at a time in new york history when crime was out of control. simply, in the wrong place in the wrong era. we have done some terrible, terrible things to innocent people in the course of fighting crime. case in point, kuby argued, the central park jogger case. that other so-called wolf pack. just like hincapie, those five teens had also confessed on tape, but they were exonerated in 2002 after dna cleared them. the defense now calls johnny hincapie. now the time had come for hincapie to tell his story under oath on the witness stand. something hincapie says his original trial attorney advised him not to do.
who is your first witness? what is it you need to prove? luis montero was the first witness. and he was there to say he saw johnny at the time the crime took place, and johnny wasn t there. how long had you known mr. hincapie? maybe a year, give or take. montero testified he was also on the subway headed to the dance club. what was your relationship with mr. hincapie like? we knew each other, but we didn t know each other that good. in fact, they hadn t seen each other or spoken since then. to understand montero s story, it s important to understand how the subway station is laid out. the platform level is where the trains come in and where the crime took place. one long flight up from the platform is what s called the turnstile level. and then a final set of stairs gets you to the street. montero says that hincapie was