The Miramar Murders EP 2 | The Appeal | Forensic Files

[static] [tense music] [plane whooshing] [gentle music] I'm home. Good, good, good, as you can tell by the smile on my face.
[laughs] Happy. I'm happy I'm home. I told him all the good news, and he's excited
and he's overwhelmed and filled with joy. He didn't even believe me. So I have to send him the article, so he'll believe me.
[tense music] [ominous music] [camera shutter clicking] [speaking spanish] JOHN HOLLAND: When you have something in the news so long,
there are crazy people that want to become part of it, that want to inject themselves into the middle of a trial,
and that's always a worry. It sounds like that's what happened here with Ortiz, or the man who fingered Ortiz.
[ball clattering] MICHAEL IBAR: We were so happy that we found this evidence. We were ecstatic when that-- when
we finally got that pistol. This is-- this is our-- our gun, you know? This is going to get him out.
So it wasn't a major issue in the case, like it should have been. It's hard to see my brother suffer like that
and not be able to help him. I wish I could open up my checkbook and-- and write a check and take care of everything,
but there's not enough zeros in my checkbook. But I still hold the faith, and I know--
I know that with the right lawyer, we can get my brother out of there because the facts, the truth of the case, bears him out.
So if we can just get enough resources to be able to get a good attorney and a good team
on the case, to be able to come to fight the state, we can-- we can get it done.
I have extreme confidence in that. I know that. [gentle music] [baby babbles] TANYA IBAR: It was a hard day.
It was hard for him. We love him. And we believe in him, that we told him we don't care.
Pablo is innocent, and he was going to fight this till the day that he died. I believe in God.
I-- I believe that one day it will come true, and he'll come home and we'll be a family and everything
will be just fine. Absolutely. [sniffs] [dog barks] [bat clangs] [rousing music]
[tense music] [plane whooshing] [tense music] [upbeat music] [applause] I know the truth, that he definitely didn't do this.
My mom had run away to Ireland. I had known that my mom was going to be out of town.
So I had invited Pablo over to come see me, so he had stayed the whole night there.
And in the morning time, my sister had come in the room and seen him in there, and she was very upset
that I let him stay over and told me that she was going to tell my mom that I had Pablo over.
MICHAEL IBAR: He was with his girlfriend at the time, Tanya. She wouldn't have done that if not
she knew that he was innocent. A girl of that age, to dedicate her whole life, her whole future, on a man that may never get out,
it's because she knows that he was with her. And that's very painful for her to have to see him suffering
like that, as it is for all of us, to have to see him suffer when we know he didn't do it.
We tried to bring this up in court to show them, you know, my mom had a passport of going
away the same times the murder had happened, you know. To show to the jurors, to the judge, you know, that he--
she was away. He did come over, you know. And I tried to make the jury realize that too, that he was with me.
There was no way that Pablo could have done that. [tense music] There is nothing, nothing, connecting
Pablo Ibar to this crime scene. [camera shutter clicking] We were very limited on the physical evidence of that case,
outside of the video. We relied a lot on circumstantial evidence. BARBARA BRUSH: For instance, the fingerprints.
There were fingerprints all over the crime scene. There were fingerprints on the walls, on the tables.
There were fingerprints on lots of different areas. And when they took the fingerprints to be tested,
it came back that they did not belong to Mr. Ibar, and they did not belong to Mr. Penalver.
There is no fingerprint, there is no weapon, there is no DNA. TANYA IBAR: DNA which they found on a T-shirt that was left
outside of the house, crime scene, which in the video shows wiping his face. Doing something that causes a lot of nervousness,
so you're sweating. So he's using that T-shirt to clean his face. It can't be him with the DNA.
If DNA comes back and it shows that it's you, would be another story. We would have nothing to say.
But the DNA has shown that it is not Pablo. LYNN S. BAIRD: The woman who did the analysis on the T-shirt
here at the laboratory obtained a partial DNA profile, different stains that she cut from the shirt.
And she determined that that DNA did not come from any of the three victims or from Mr. Ibar, that that DNA came from someone
completely different. PAUL MANZELLA: We, at that point, didn't know whose shirt it was, and we
collected it for evidence. We sent it to the lab for trace evidence. And unfortunately, it didn't come back with any
that matched Pablo Ibar. I could only assume that that was not the shirt that Pablo
Ibar was wearing, that Pablo Ibar took the shirt with him when he left the scene.
And that was the shirt that was on scene, maybe by Butch Casey. Perhaps he may have washed his car the day before
and left his shirt outside on the front porch. CHUCK MORTON: I don't believe that the shirt
was owned or worn by-- by the murderer. It just doesn't make sense to me that the murderer
then would walk outside and leave the shirt on the front porch. It leads me to believe that that murderer didn't think
that the shirt could be connected to him, because it was not his shirt. And uh, it was not a shirt that he wore.
[somber music] REPORTER: Were you sure right away that that was Pablo on that tape?
Yeah. Someone you hang out with, you know what I'm saying, and you see him on tape?
Shocking. BARBARA BRUSH: Jean Klimeczko was just out of prison, a drug addict. Bad, bad drug addict.
He was somewhat of a guy that really didn't want to get involved. He had a criminal past.
We knew he had a criminal past. But the thing is with Jean Klimeczko is, that criminal past really didn't come into play
for what he knew. BARBARA BRUSH: I think that he was frightened by the police, and say if you don't say what we want you to say,
and do what we want you to do, you'll go back to prison. Once the police decided that Mr. Ibar and Mr. Penalver were
arrested, and they had decided that they were the suspects in this case, they did no further investigation.
TANYA IBAR: I think that they realized they made a mistake, but they weren't going to say that they made a mistake.
They already started this. They already got him involved. So that's why I think they kept on going instead of saying,
OK, it's not you. We're sorry. But they're not going to do that. No one wakes up in the morning every day saying, well,
let me find some innocent person to prosecute. They're human beings. And so all human beings are susceptible to making mistakes.
No justice system, no court system is perfect. I think at this point, there have
been so many different versions of the truth. You do have to determine who's telling the truth or not.
Most cases have a murky area, so that is not unusual, and this case is murky. The only question here is, is that Pablo?
Really. I mean, everything else is irrelevant. If that person in that picture is Pablo, then he is guilty,
period. And I think all the other stuff was done as a distraction, because that central question isn't answered by that video.
It points to him, but it isn't enough. It's not conclusive. But the video is the entire evidence.
If that's Pablo, he's a murderer. If it isn't, he should walk free. And it's really that simple.
[static] [horn honks] TANYA IBAR: We have to get another attorney. If I have to pay my whole life to the lawyer, that's
what I'll have to do, you know? If it means bringing Pablo home, then that's something we have to do, so.
[surging music] █ made this choice to continue with Pablo because I truly believe in him.
I know he did not do this. This is all that I've known. I've known nothing else.
I've been married to a man for 16 years, and I've never slept with him in the bed as husband and wife.
That was 16 years. I hate that I can't honestly say, this is my husband. Because I love him.
I'm proud of him. I'm not embarrassed of him. But it's not so much of being embarrassed,
or of the situation. It's the fact that people don't accept it here. I feel like telling people, people
judge me then, off the bat. If I tell you I'm married to someone on death row, automatically you think something's wrong with me.
You think, oh my god, this-- maybe she's a little crazy, this lady over here. She's married to this guy on death row.
Why would you want to be married to somebody like that? So I don't say nothing, you know?
I pretend like my husband's home, my life is normal. I go to work, I put a smile on my face.
I guess I feel like even more I have to show people that I'm OK. And I have to lie.
I'm 38 now, so my life has been a majority of this. It hasn't been anything else.
[sniffs] [water lapping] BENJAMIN WAXMAN: I got a call from Tanya. They said that Pablo had heard about me on death row
and that he, uh, was interested in me representing him. I've been in private practice my entire career.
I've done probably hundreds of appeals. [tense music] WILSON BARNES: Hear ye, hear ye, hear ye.
The Supreme Court of the great state of Florida is now in session. All who have cause to plead, draw near.
Please be seated. Welcome to the Florida Supreme Court. First case for the day is Ibar versus State of Florida.
You may proceed. Your Honors, Mr. Ibar was convicted based on his resemblance to a blurry image, to the blurry image of one
of the murderers in a 20-year-old grainy, soundless, black-and-white videotape. But the most significant evidence in this case
was the exculpatory blue T-shirt that the murderer had wrapped around his face and thrashed around the murder scene
for 20 minutes, and deposited it in front of the house. That T-shirt was examined for all of the biologic material
coming from the murderer that was undoubtedly covered in the entire shirt. And all of that evidence, the sweat,
the blood, the DNA, the hair, all of it, excluded Mr. Ibar. There was so much exonerating evidence that exculpated
and showed that this simply was not the murderer, and we would ask that the court reverse the judgment below
and grant Mr. Ibar a new trial. Thank you. Thank you for your arguments. May it please the court, Leslie
Campbell with the Attorney General's Office on behalf of the state. And I ask this court to affirm the denial
of post-conviction relief and deny the habeas petition. And the fact that DNA isn't found on it doesn't necessarily
mean that Mr. Ibar wasn't the person that shot those three victims, wasn't the person that was in the victim's car
afterwards. PEGGY A. QUINCE: Was there actually hair found on the shirt? LESLIE CAMPBELL: They collected some materials.
Some were inconclusive. Some were, uh-- didn't match the, uh-- BARBARA J. PARIENTE: So I don't understand your-- your answer.
Why wasn't his DNA on it, if it was his shirt? You're saying, well, maybe it wasn't
the shirt that he actually had, or maybe he didn't leave DNA. But the-- there was DNA left.
Uh, merely because there's a lack of evidence. We don't know that Mr. Ibar was actually sweating.
We don't know that he left epithelial cells or-- or any other type of DNA on there.
We know that we didn't find it. But yet, when you look at the whole picture now,
the question really is, should our confidence in the outcome of this [indistinct speech] phase be undermined
by this whole constellation of, uh, concerns that have been raised? We hope that they'll find that way and-- and give him
a new trial, which he deserves. And if he gets it, I'm-- hope very much and believe that he will be acquitted.
[tense music] So elated, so happy. It's just-- it's priceless right now. There's not a price anybody can put on this today.
[somber music] BENJAMIN WAXMAN: First of all, I believe in my cause. I believe in Pablo.
He did not receive a fair trial. He did not receive the constitutional protections that
are so fundamental to what we believe is criminal justice in this country. And I believe that to my core.
JOE NASCIMENTO: So Pablo doesn't know that-- BENJAMIN WAXMAN: We've kind of assembled a team of lawyers,
and we are collectively working, devising strategies, trying to take advantage of all of the strengths
of each of the individual members on the lawyer team. --standing there. And he goes, this is a death penalty case, and--
BENJAMIN WAXMAN: Joe Nascimento was an intern at the law firm. And I began to bring him in to help review the materials,
help review the briefs and the work product. Everything else in first wave, everything.
And then penalty second wave for sure, and see what happens. BENJAMIN WAXMAN: Alan is one of my partners.
He is an amazing attorney who is known for his preparation, for his exacting cross-examination.
I knew he would make tremendous contributions to Pablo's defense. Let's not forget, the--
the reversal was what, four months ago? BENJAMIN WAXMAN: Fred is an iconic Broward
lawyer who has tried hundreds of cases, who was immensely successful. He had a flair in the courtroom.
I had seen him in court. He had a way with jurors. He had a way with judges that was really kind of incomparable
in Broward County. So that's-- we've been working very, very hard, and all of the attorneys have been spending time, uh,
talking about strategies with regard to motions, with regard to witnesses. That's been kind of going on, you
know, among the lawyer team that's been assembled to try this case. TANYA IBAR: Benji is very good.
He is very strong at putting into words to kind of help you pull out and understand the importance of what's
happened here, you know? He did a great job. Now it's different. Now we realize that we have to take that control,
making sure that, you know, these attorneys are doing what needs to be done to achieve
what we're looking to achieve. So we're going to be calling you, we're going to be talking to you,
we're going to be asking you what your strategy is. We want to see your notes. We want to see what you're doing, uh, regardless
if they agree or they don't. If they don't, then we'll get somebody else that will help us.
[phone beeps] JOE NASCIMENTO: Pablo, good morning. Good time that you called me, because I'm looking
at the-- the agenda for the meeting. Our number one goal is for us to leave today's meeting wanting to push the judge, keeping the state--
keeping their feet to the fire and not letting them delay. JOE NASCIMENTO: I know one of your frustrations
is that we do need to-- to press a little bit harder. Right. Right. And it's not necessarily that they're
going to be able to develop something new, legitimate. JOE NASCIMENTO: All right.
Everyone's getting here, so I want to get into this meeting. All right, Pablo. I'll talk to you later.
See you. OK. [tense music] DENNIS D. BAILEY: My father was a lawyer, my grandfather was a lawyer, so that my brother
and I both became lawyers. He was elected to the bench first and said, you've got to do it, you'd love this job,
and convinced me to run for judge. And I was successful. And he's right. I love the job.
My name is William Sinclair. I've been a homicide prosecutor for about four or five years.
When the case came back on appeal, Mr. Morton asked me to join the team. I came from a little bit of a different perspective.
Uh, Mr. Morton obviously had tried the case. It had been pending for 20 years. It had this enormous history, but I
did not know anything about it. I had the opportunity, and I wanted to look at the case for the first time
and form my own opinion of it. CHUCK MORTON: I was retired in 2012. And then I was asked to come back
as a specially appointed prosecutor to the Pablo Ibar case. Any other prosecutor who came in perhaps
could benefit, uh, from-- from my assistance, and the knowledge that I had of the case,
and get up to speed on it quickly. ALAN ROSS: I feel for Pablo, because he's-- he's had to live through this experience for all these years.
So many trials, so many hearings, uh, so much stuff that the state played fast and loose with.
And then here we are coming back today, and it's not just the state, but here's the same prosecutor
all over again. I can only imagine what it must be like for Pablo to have to relive all of that.
I mean, that's been his mantra since the day I met him, is how unfairly, you know, he's been treated
by this prosecutive team. [chains rattling] [muffled speech] Good morning, Your Honor.
[phone rings] [ambient music] [chains rattling] Prosecutor in the case called me and said,
I have some earth-shattering news to tell you. And you know, in this case, who knows what that means?
You just kind of hold your seat like, oh, what twist now? And he said to me that Pablo's defense team was using a crime
lab and they were running DNA samples of William Ortiz, and they had done some DNA testing on him.
Every DNA test they did, it wasn't him. It wasn't him. And on a hunch the prosecutor said, I'm--
I'm going to send-- I'm going to send Pablo's DNA to that crime lab. And then he got a call and they said, we got a hit.
Are you serious? How can there be DNA evidence on there? Wasn't it-- I had all these questions.
Wasn't it tested? And you got to think about a shirt, right? You have to have the exact spot on that shirt tested for DNA.
There was evidence against Pablo, and now there's DNA evidence. Thank god. [somber music]
[horns honking] [ominous music] ALAN ROSS: Whose is this? BENJAMIN WAXMAN: I got a margherita.
JOE NASCIMENTO: If it's got mushrooms-- This is yours, Benj, I think. Yeah, as long as there's no-- oh, no, no.
There's-- there's some kind of-- ALAN ROSS: No, it's mushroom. No, you think those are mushrooms?
Yeah. - Yeah. This is Joe and me, which I will-- [phone rings] BENJAMIN WAXMAN: Hey, Pablo.
How are you? BENJAMIN WAXMAN: Sorry. I've got you on speaker. I'm sitting here with Alan, Joe, Fred, and myself.
Well, what I think we need to talk about is what we need to do so that we can announce ready.
And realistically, we need to prepare the motion on the DNA stuff. That-- that's our main-- you understand the circum--
I'm not saying you understand. But what I'm saying is you understand that the circumstances of that stuff
is to me worse than anything else, OK? BENJAMIN WAXMAN: We've also reached out to a number of people looking for just an expert like that,
you know. So we have about four or five leads out, and just waiting to hear back on any specific recommendations.
Um, you know, that's underway. No. I-- We couldn't find anyone here in the US to even support our position.
We found some expert in the UK. I feel really strongly that we need a US expert.
ALAN ROSS: While we have Pablo on the phone, what we want to talk about is timing, I think, right?
Look, I think realistically-- I think realistically, we should shoot, realistically, for February.
JOE NASCIMENTO: So look, Pablo. I mean, we need to move as quickly as possible, but we need to be realistic.
And we need to be prepared, right? And you know, please have-- I don't want you to lose faith in our focus to prepare
as quickly as possible. So I know you're frustrated. Look, I'm not losing a death penalty case.
I ain't lost one yet, and I'm not starting now, period. ALAN ROSS: And Pablo, let me just say this.
I think you're right. The fact of the matter is, Pablo, whether you're right or not is irrelevant.
What is relevant is we don't have an expert, and we need an expert. All right. Look, Pablo, we got to hang up because I-- we got--
you have a minute left. So um-- Works for me. I want to be prepared and have the time,
and not have any other frigging thing on my mind. OK, I want to leave. BENJAMIN WAXMAN: [indistinct speech]
how the story is. Well, I'm just getting a little weak. BENJAMIN WAXMAN: I know. Sorry.
ALAN ROSS: I haven't been feeling that well. BENJAMIN WAXMAN: Sorry. [tense music]
[chatter] Now, he's coming home. Don't you worry. - Hmm? - He's coming home. Don't you worry.
[chuckles] When he comes home, what are your plans? Oh, yeah. [chatter] Uh, the court has, uh, ordered that we begin jury selection
on Wednesday, February 28. Uh, our next status conference in the case is going to be on November 29.
Beginning with jury selection, that takes as long as it takes, sometimes weeks. But that's-- that is the beginning of the trial.
It's all good news. [phone rings] Waxman? BENJAMIN WAXMAN: (ON PHONE) Hey, Joe. How are you? - Good.
How are you? BENJAMIN WAXMAN: What's happening? JOE NASCIMENTO: Alan, uh, got diagnosed
with pancreatic cancer. So uh, it's a shock. BENJAMIN WAXMAN: It's like that-- the worst
possible diagnosis. It's fucked up. JOE NASCIMENTO: You know, we had to break the news to Pablo.
There's a lot of things that we just don't know right now. So it's, uh-- but he is-- for sure, he cannot try this case.
BENJAMIN WAXMAN: Such a horrible thing. You know, Alan's a really strong guy. He'll try to pretend like everything's normal and
the same, and everything's OK. That's what he'll do. [sniffs] JOE NASCIMENTO: Then we've got Mr. Ross.
ALAN ROSS: Happy day. BENJAMIN WAXMAN: What's happening? ALAN ROSS: Good to see you. Good to see you.
BENJAMIN WAXMAN: Good to see you. JOE NASCIMENTO: Morning, Mr. Ross. Good to see you. JOE NASCIMENTO: Hi.
BENJAMIN WAXMAN: Broken phone. I'll take Fred's seat over here. Careful. Don't lean back too far.
I've been warned. He's right. OK. BENJAMIN WAXMAN: Alan, do you go everywhere with your best lawyer plaque?
I see you've got that right at your foot. [laughs] It's like a-- Yes. BENJAMIN WAXMAN: I thought Alan brought that.
JOE NASCIMENTO: Oh, Alan thought he was in his office. You got a Post-it? [laughter]
Uh, I don't know. Soon as I get a Post-it, I will. As a matter of fact, if you can get me a stack of Post-its--
FRED HADDAD: I saw him in the courthouse one day, and I looked at him. And he said he had a stomach issue,
and I knew he had cancer, because I've known him so long. [melancholy music] And uh, you know, then it got confirmed later on.
He hid it for a long time, like many people do, because he didn't want to give up practicing.
TANYA IBAR: When he told us that he had pancreatic cancer, my heart just dropped.
I just-- I think for a second, like, I didn't even-- like, I stopped breathing. And then, you know, it starts to sink in.
What are we going to do? I mean, Alan was the person that was going to be the head person that was going to do
mainly the cross-examination. What do we do now? You know, when we're so close to the end of this,
it's so easy to fall apart. You're so tired. I mean, we're not talking about a year, a couple of years.
We're talking about, I mean, 20-something years. We are like-- this is a lot. It's consumed our lives.
It's been our whole lives. I don't think that they understand sometimes how-- how hard it was for us, and how angry inside you feel.
And then you're dealing with now the fact that this person you've paid, we're-- we've--
it's like the money is just lost. And how do we-- how do we find somebody else now,
with the little that we have left? In a case like this, because nobody wants to do this for nothing.
If we were millionaires, you wouldn't think twice about it. You'd find somebody, you have the money,
you do what you have to do. But we don't have that. And then on top of that, I got a call from Benji
saying that Fred is very concerned and that he needs more time to prepare. And you're thinking, oh my god, we're not ready.
I hate to believe that, but it is. It's like a curse. It's just always-- it's always something.
It's like we can't escape it. How do I convince Pablo not to give up? How do I keep his mind still strong?
[somber music] JOE NASCIMENTO: Not having Alan at trial is a monumental loss, but that doesn't change our defense.
It doesn't change our witnesses. It doesn't change any testimony. Uh, we just have to adjust.
I'm doing this to ensure Alan's legacy in this case. That's, you know, I think, part of our responsibility.
To do our best to neutralize that, move on, and win this case so that we can celebrate it with Pablo,
his family, Fred, and everyone that's been a part of it from the beginning. Uh, we owe it to all of them, we owe it to ourselves,
and uh, we'll continue on that path. So there will be other issues that come up between now
and whenever the trial is. Something else is going to happen that's upsetting to us.
Something else is going to happen that's-- that's going to seem like a setback. And it's just another hurdle that
will make the victory that much sweeter, and the party that much bigger, right? [dramatic music]

Pablo Ibar looks for help to prove his innocence on a charge of triple homicide. Pablo Ibar was arrested on a charge of triple homicide - but his guilt comes into question when investigators discover video footage of the massacre. The heinous crime becomes the first murder case ever to be caught on camera, and Pablo's story hits the mainstream. This captivating docu-series recounts the harrowing investigation and trials that followed.

Brief Summary

Pablo Ibar's family fights for his exoneration amid legal challenges and emotional struggles.

Key points

Homecoming Joy. Returning home brings overwhelming happiness and relief.
The Fight for Justice. A family struggles to prove a loved one's innocence against overwhelming odds.
Love Beyond Bars. A woman reflects on her enduring love for her husband on death row.
Diagnosis Shock. Alan Ross is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, shocking everyone involved.
Trial Adjustments. Joe Nascimento discusses the impact of Alan's absence on the trial strategy.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I wish I could open up my checkbook and take care of everything.

7:04WatchFeb 7, 2024

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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