Timecode

Visuals

Audio

01:00:00

Overview of city of Milwaukee

01:00:02

TITLE: A 371 Production

Music swells

01:00:06

TITLE: In association with Stick Figure

01:00:09

TITLE: and Cashmere Agency

01:00:13

TITLE: Milwaukee, Wisconsin 2014

01:00:15

CLAUDE: I was born and raised in Milwaukee. I came back here for a 25th class reunion.

01:00:21

Claude driving car

TITLE: Claude Motley

01:00:26

Photo of Claude and friends

CLAUDE: It was a meet and greet before the actual reunion. We met at a bar.

01:00:32

Claude driving car

I was dropping off my friend, right here.  It was like 1:30 in the morning. It was pretty dark. I saw that he was in, I said, okay, and I was about to get out, and I saw, just like right now, saw a car coming up, so I said, let me finish my e-mail.

01:00:50

And then another car came and was kind of in front of me, the backseat was parallel with my window. When I looked over, to kind of turn the head, and I was like, oh, something is up, so I’m thinking I got to get out of here. By the time I put the car in drive, the kid had had already left the car and I saw him take that last step and he hit the window twice with the gun.

[Knocking sound] I just punched it.

01:01:13

Montage of images

[Car engine revs]

I heard a gunshot.

[Gunshot]

01:01:16

I hit the back end of that car and I pushed the back end out, I tore out, probably 70 miles an hour. I turned left, I turned right, I was just going streets to make sure that I was not being followed. I looked in the rearview mirror and I tried to close my mouth but I couldn’t, and that’s when I looked up and I saw the gunshot and I looked down and blood was just gushing out, just bubbling onto my shirt. My whole shirt was red. My pants was red. It was pooling up between my legs. Really started to panic. I’m trying to think of where is a hospital to go to. I started to get a little woozy.  I did not want to be found on the side of the road, bled out. And no one knew where I was at.

01:02:01

[Snapshot sounds]

01:02:05

Montage of images

CLAUDE: Not only was the blood coming out but it was going back into my throat. I couldn’t breathe. I’m thinking about my kids, thinking about my wife, thinking, I got to survive.

01:02:23

TITLE: WHEN CLAUDE GOT SHOT

[Music]

Photo of Claude’s profile

X-ray of Claude’s skull

01:02:37

Images of Claude’s skull

DOCTOR: The bullet came in through the soft tissues and then struck the jaw, the jawbone here, you can see that fracture here and here, and oblique fracture this way, this way, a piece of bone here, hit here and then went underneath his tongue to the opposite side of his face, and you can see here where, you can see all these little tiny pieces of bone coming through the soft tissue like this, and I go across the back and here is it, exiting the left side of his face and all the pieces are spread out this way as the bullet comes through.

01:03:13

Claude talking & images of Claude’s injury

CLAUDE: Where they actually cut me open, they cut, started from here, cut open all the way up here and then came around here and peeled my face up so that they could actually put a complete wire around the jaw line and then did a jigsaw puzzle with the bones that were there.

01:03:38

Claude with video camera

[Inaudible] There we go.

01:03:45

Video montage of family

01:03:57

Video montage of family

CLAUDE: We left Milwaukee six years ago because of the violence. When we had children we definitely wanted to get them out. It’s one of the most segregated cities in the country. There’s a ceiling.

01:04:15

Family at dining table

Now I live in Charlotte, North Carolina.

01:04:23

Neighborhood get-together

It’s a beautiful neighborhood, but it’s never really home.

01:04:28

Neighborhood get-together

NEIGHBOR: So we love it. The quality of life is great. The schools are good here. What do you do?

CLAUDE: I’m in law school right now.

NEIGHBOR: You’re in law school, ooh. That’s awesome, really, and I think, especially at, to be an adult and to go to law school, I feel like I was 23 when I started law school.

CLAUDE: No, no. I think you’re lying.

NEIGHBOR: Where are you working this summer?

CLAUDE: Well, actually, she’s a lawyer also.

NEIGHBOR: Yeah.

CLAUDE: So we have, she has an international law firm and I work with her.

NEIGHBOR: Oh, that’s great.

KIM: Yeah.

01:04:51

CLAUDE: Kim was across the world for nine months out of the year, so I was raising the kids.

[Music swells]

I was in school, and I was working with her.  It was hard but sweet. And then I got shot.

01:05:07

[Gunshot]

[Tires squealing]

01:05:12

Kim & Claude in car

TITLE: One week since shooting

KIM: Are you hungry?

CLAUDE: I can puree some stuff in a blender.

KIM: Oh.

01:05:17

TITLE: Kim Motley

KIM: You want me to cook something? I can make soup.

CLAUDE: You could?

KIM: Yeah.

CLAUDE: That would be a first. I mean, you never offered to make me soup. I’m surprised.

KIM: Well, you never had a need to be made soup.

CLAUDE: Oh--

KIM: Uh-huh--

[Chuckling]

CLAUDE: Didn’t know that that was part of your repertoire.

KIM: Yeah, I can definitely make it, I can make Campbell’s chicken noodle soup, Campbell’s vegetable soup--

[Chuckling]

01:05:42

KIM: This is your first time driving?

CLAUDE: Yep, just to prove that I am okay.

KIM: Yeah, I know.

CLAUDE: So you want to go down the route that I took?

KIM:  Yeah, yep.

01:05:59

Kim & Claude standing in street

KIM: Obviously this happened pretty quick. I’m trying to slow this down for you, you know.

01:06:02

Kim & Claude by car

CLAUDE: I know that he was skinny, you know, from the beater.

KIM: He was skinny.

CLAUDE: Yeah, he was skinny.

[Music swells]

[Simultaneous discussion]

KIM: I’m five-eight, he was my height.

CLAUDE: He was your height.

KIM: Did you see his eyes?

CLAUDE: No. By the time he hit the gun, the gun just was in my view [knocking sound].

KIM: Do you know if he had short hair?

CLAUDE: He had like a little curly afro.

KIM: How big was his afro?

CLAUDE: Probably I would say about that big.

KIM: If you saw the hair, you’ll be able to narrow it down a little bit more.

CLAUDE: That hairdo is probably on a thousand kids, you know what I’m saying. I don’t want to start putting a face where I know I can’t see a face. I can’t see a face.

KIM: You okay?

CLAUDE: It’s just hurting, talking about it.

KIM: Okay.

01:06:49

Outside of house, then in kitchen, Claude icing his face

CLAUDE: [Inaudible] now. [Sighs]

KIM: It feel good?

CLAUDE: Yes. Oh, it feels so good.

At kitchen table

01:07:01

At front door

DET. LEWANDOWSKI: Hi there.

CLAUDE: Hi, how you doing?

DET. LEWANDOWSKI: Good.

CLAUDE: Detective Barnes?

DET. LEWANDOWSKI: Yes, Lewandowski.

[Introductions and greetings]

KIM: Hi, I’m Kim Motley, Claude’s wife.

DET. LEWANDOWSKI: Okay, nice to meet you.

01:07:11

In living area

TITLE: Det. Shannon Lewandowski, Milwaukee Police Department

DET. LEWANDOWSKI: So I’m just going to go over some of the reports with you. These individuals that we have in custody, have you heard anything about them?

CLAUDE: No.

DET. LEWANDOWSKI: They’ve been doing a spree of robberies for probably a month, taking people’s cars and then doing other street robberies with them.

01:07:27

DET. LEWANDOWSKI: So what I’m going to do now is just show you a series of photos and I know that you already said that you probably don’t think you can identify anybody, but sometimes our mind recollects stuff once you see it.

CLAUDE: Right.

01:07:49

Photo array shown

01:07:55

CLAUDE: Number four.

DET. LEWANDOWSKI: Okay.

CLAUDE: That’s the hairstyle. And I don’t know about this guy’s build but the build of this kid, it was a young body type, you know, skinny.

DET. LEWANDOWSKI: That is him. He is 15 years old. Dated yours on the 21st. On the 23rd they meet up with a woman. They see her as an easy target and she gets her .380 out and shoots one of them, and that individual has admitted to me that he’s the one who shot you.

KIM: Oh, wow.

DET. LEWANDOWSKI: And he felt that he didn’t shoot you, he thought he shot through the window shield.

CLAUDE: Mm-hmm.

01:08:34

DET. LEWANDOWSKI: Then once he got shot, he was out of the picture but they continued the 24th, 25th, 26th.

KIM: Wow.

CLAUDE: They was just going hog-wild.

DET. LEWANDOWSKI: Yeah, they almost had a death wish or something . . .

01:08:46

TITLE: Nathan King

Detective talking interspersed with images of Mr. King & crime scene

DET. LEWANDOWSKI: Since he lived off Capitol, I said, well, what about all those robberies over off of Capitol that you did, you need to tell me about them, and he just started rattling them all off, and I said, well, what about the guy that you shot, and I’m just throwing it out there. He’s like, oh, I didn’t shoot him, I just shot his car because he took off, and I tell Nathan, well, you actually shot somebody. I did?

01:09:11

Detective talking

It wasn’t gloating anymore. I did?

01:09:13

In Motleys’ living room

DET. LEWANDOWSKI: The bullet went into his spine and it like lodged in part of it. It tore through his intestines and he--

KIM: Wow.

DET. LEWANDOWSKI: --has like one of those--

CLAUDE: Colostomy bags.

KIM: Yeah.

DET. LEWANDOWSKI: Yes, mm-hmm.

CLAUDE: Okay.

01:09:33

Claude & Kim

CLAUDE: He admitted to it.

KIM: That’s good. I told you.

CLAUDE: It’s almost like, I don’t know.

01:09:54

TITLE: Victoria Davison

Victoria in police questioning room, shots of outside of house

OFFICER: Okay, make sure the sound is working, can you say good morning?

VICTORIA: Good morning.

OFFICER: Okay, so you pulled up in front of your house at about 1:51.

VICTORIA: Yes.

OFFICER: And you were all by yourself in the car?

VICTORIA: Yes.

01:10:06

Victoria outside house

VICTORIA: I see two cars and I open my door and I’m getting my gym bag, then the cars just come and they stop about right here.

01:10:15

In police questioning room

VICTORIA: He said, I want the keys, car, everything.

01:10:18

Shot of car outside the house

VICTORIA: And he said, hey, bro, go get the cannon, like go get the gun.

01:10:22

In police questioning room

VICTORIA: The dark-skinned one had me from the back. The light-skinned one had me from the front.

01:10:26

Shot of crime scene, Victoria at crime scene

VICTORIA: I was able to get my firearm out, so as I was falling to the ground from them pushing me down, I was able to take the safety off of my gun and fire at Nathan King, and he said, oh, shit, I’m shot. And then he kind of was walking like this, and he fell right here.

01:10:45

Images of crime scene, Victoria in police questioning room

The dark-skinned guy, he runs off back to the black car and then he screeches off, then the white car screeches off, and then I run up to the door.

01:10:54

Victoria at her house

I’m like banging on the door, like right on this part with the butt of the gun. I don’t have any keys, I can’t get in the house, so I’m looking like, oh, my gosh, what if they come back, but my husband finally came down.

01:11:06

Victoria in police questioning room

And my husband told the 911 operator, he said, I need an ambulance, some guy tried to rob my wife and he’s been shot.

01:11:15

Images of crime scene, Victoria at crime scene, image of Nathan King

And he’s just laying there the whole time, throwing up. I overheard the police asking him his information.

[Music swells]

He’s only 15. I’m like, oh, my gosh, I just shot this boy who’s 15 years old.

01:11:30

Victoria in police questioning room

The guy is okay, though?

OFFICER: Pardon me?

VICTORIA: Is he okay?

OFFICER: He went to Children’s Hospital.  He’s a juvenile, and they took him into surgery to look to see how bad it was. That’s the last I heard. You’re probably going to be shaken for the next day or so [inaudible] because it’s a terrible thing to go through.

01:12:03

Outside Wisconsin District State Office Building

TITLE: Milwaukee Public Defenders Office (Kim’s former workplace), Kim & Claude at PD’s office

01:12:09

Kim & Claude talking with someone at PD’s office

KIM: Joy Hammond, you’re saying she’s a very good--

WOMAN: She has a reputation as a hard-line prosecutor. She’s very experienced, so my sense is that she knows what she’s doing.

KIM: See, our guy, he’s still in the hospital, I think.

WOMAN: Right.

KIM: So I think that’s what they’re waiting on a little bit.

WOMAN: There have been a lot of shootings with really young defendants lately.

KIM: I wonder why that it.

WOMAN: It’s really tragic.

01:12:35

CLAUDE: I don’t know, Kim.

KIM: What?

CLAUDE: I’m struggling.

KIM: All right.

CLAUDE: Funny face.

KIM: No, you’re not.

CLAUDE: The rest of my life I got to live with this.

01:12:57

Visiting someone, getting out of car

CLAUDE: Hey.

WOMAN: Hey, what’s going on? Come on in.

[Cheers from group]

01:13:13

At party for Claude

CLAUDE: I mean, I just truly appreciate everybody coming out, just showing me love. Honestly, this was senseless. You know, I should have been to the, at the, you know, at the ball, dancing--

[Simultaneous discussion]

WOMAN: Dancing with--

[Laughter]

[Simultaneous discussion]

01:13:33

At party for Claude

KIM: I received a call in Afghanistan about 2:00 a.m. that this happened to my husband. I, like I said, I received it from my 17-year-old daughter on the phone through Skype. All I got from her initially was crying, I didn’t understand what she was saying--

REPORTER: That’s right, you’re a lawyer, you’re an attorney--

KIM: Right.

REPORTER: --so, I mean, you’re going to see this through till the end.

KIM: Oh, absolutely. This is what I do for a living and I’m going to make sure that my husband is not only protected personally but that also he’s protected legally by me.

01:14:02

Kim talking

You know, I don’t freak out on him, just like I know if I call him on stuff he’s not going to freak out on me. I still haven’t freaked out about it because that’s not what he needs. He needs for this shit to be handled, you know what I mean. That’s what I, you know, legally, medically, that’s what he needs. He doesn’t need someone to sit there crying with him. His family can do that.

01:14:24

At party for Claude

CLAUDE: But you know what, you know what, though, I’m glad everybody had a chance to get together and I hope everybody have awareness, though, of what we need to do here in Milwaukee, too, you know what I’m saying, I love this city. It’s too bad it’s gone down the way it went.

WOMAN: But you’re here and we love you.

WOMAN: And we’re grateful.

01:14:39

On escalator at law school, in classroom

CLAUDE: I can’t forget where I came from but I have to move forward. Right after I got shot, I went right back and did my last semester at Charlottesville Law, and people, they just see this big jaw, swole up, stitches all through his neck, and so I have to keep on telling people, keep on reliving it, keep on being positive.

01:15:11

At Froedtert Hospital, Kim & Claude looking at images of Claude’s jaw

CLAUDE: Look at this. That’s gone.

KIM: What is that?

CLAUDE: Bone. It’s not there. These are breaks, I got like a thousand breaks.

KIM: So the DA, she was saying that the kid, she’s been told that he will be paralyzed for the rest of his life, and so that he has, you know, intestinal damage and that he, she anticipates that she’ll probably charge this probably about a month. He does have to recover a little bit. You know, we’ll see.

01:15:40

Kim & Claude talking

CLAUDE: I’m going to tell you, that’s a little hard to swallow.

KIM: Yeah, well, you didn’t shoot him.

CLAUDE: No, I know that. I know that. We have to trust the judicial system in this, we have to--

KIM: We have to guide them.

CLAUDE: --we have to guide it, but we also got to think--

KIM: The kid’s a victim, too, to a certain extent.

CLAUDE: Yeah.

01:16:15

Kids with bike & basketball walking

TITLE: Scott Cross, Claude’s Best Friend

SCOTT: That was us 30 years ago [chuckles]. I was oblivious to the whole thing until the next day about, what was it, 3:00.

CLAUDE: Yeah. I parked to drop him off and Scott was walking into the house right here.

SCOTT: Yeah. I got up to the door, got in, got my keys, I looked back over my shoulder and he was looking down at his phone and I went in the house.

01:16:32

Image of vehicle with gunshot in window

[Gunshot]

[Shattering glass]

01:16:33

Images of vehicle, Scott talking, Claude & Scott talking, montage of images of Claude

SCOTT: I was in the relative safety of my own home, you know, and Claude was just a few feet away being victimized. My friend could have died that day. He could not be here. He could literally not be here. [Music swells]

I always knew Claude was going to go on and do great and wonderful things. He was bright, articulate, he was an athlete, he was popular, he was a smart guy. We had high expectations of each other and kind of push each other toward the light, so to speak. I had a certain comfort that he was going to be okay, and that a lot of the crazy stuff that happens wasn’t going to happen to him.

01:17:13

Montage of images of young Black men

SCOTT: Most Black families know if you have the ability you’ve got to get your sons out of here. Milwaukee preys upon young Black men. There are very few that grow up in this environment and become successful. In a segregated city, they do everything to limit a sector of society from opportunity.

01:17:37

Talking to Scott

SCOTT: We’re a bunch of individuals going after scraps on a daily basis, and our kids are the result of it. That kid is a result of it. I like to think our lives mean more than that.

01:17:54

[Gunshot]

01:17:58

[Music swells]

CLAUDE: When I woke up I was in a different hospital, I was shackled to the bed. The nurse actually came in and I’m like, why am I shackled to the bed? And he was like, well, you had a rough night. And I’m, what do you mean, a rough night? Well, you were kicking, we had to do some work on you, and you were, I think you were in shock, you don’t remember.

01:18:22

Images of things from Claude’s shooting, image of old factory building

I was not granted a phone. I actually had to ask a person visiting, another patient that was in the ICU at the time to use his phone. I’m treated as a perpetrator first, before they knew anything. You can’t tell me that wasn’t in their brain. They can deny it if they want to. You can’t tell me.

TITLE: 6 Weeks Since Shooting, outside of municipal court

01:19:04

TITLE: Joy Hammond, Assistant District Attorney, Claude & Kim talking with Ms. Hammond

HAMMOND: I value your input tremendously because, like I said, I wasn’t the one shot.

CLAUDE: Right.

HAMMOND: It is about justice, but it’s about justice for you. What we have at Children’s Court is called serious juvenile offender, which is a five-year order in which up to three of them can be served in custody, and it’s only available for certain offenses. Armed robbery is one of them.

KIM: But the most is like three and two if he’s in the--

HAMMOND: Three and two is the most. I never think that’s enough.

KIM: Mm-hmm.

HAMMOND: I think the chances are extremely slim that we will get waiver. I’m just saying it from experience. One of the smart things maybe, to fashion some sort of agreement that’ll allow us to get the rest of the crew, the other kids that were with him that night, get those kids waived into adult court--

KIM: Right.

HAMMOND: --and, you know, get the best possible outcome there.

01:19:54

Claude & Kim talking with Ms. Hammond

And then the other thing that I think would be real interesting, we can fashion a community service portion of whatever his order is, so he has to roll his butt into every high school in Milwaukee and tell these kids what he did, and say, hey, you want to play basketball this weekend. Honey, I can’t, because this is a choice I made and you make this choice, there’s just as much chance it’s going to happen to you.

01:20:20

Outside of building, Motleys meeting Victoria & her husband

CLAUDE: Hello. Claude Motley.

VICTORIA: Victoria Davison.

CLAUDE: Nice to meet you.

VICTORIA: Nice to meet you as well. This is my husband, Matthew.

CLAUDE: How you doing.

MATTHEW: Hi, nice to meet you.

CLAUDE: This is my wife, Kim.

KIM: Hi, sorry I’m like creeping up behind you. Hi, I’m Kim, nice to meet you. Hi, nice to meet you, nice to meet you.

VICTORIA: Nice to meet you as well.

01:20:33

Motleys talking with Victoria & her husband

VICTORIA: They just told me that the both of you are attorneys.

CLAUDE: Well, I’m close. I’m two classes away from being an attorney, get my JD--

VICTORIA: Oh, but still, congratulations.

CLAUDE: Yeah, well, thank you, thank you.

VICTORIA: I think I read or heard somewhere you’re a nurse?

VICTORIA: I am an LPN now, I have a year and a half still to go before I finish my nursing degree.

CLAUDE: I know the feeling. You just want to keep on striving to do your best, you know, and, you know, that’s one of the things that’s such a tragedy. They were going after people with such a reckless abandon.

01:21:00

Looking at Nathan King’s Facebook page

I don’t know if the detective shared with you the Facebook pictures and things like that. So this is Nathan King’s Facebook.

CLAUDE: You know, this is the first thing, when we got online and we saw this, we were like, oh, my God. That looks sort of like the gun he shot me with.

01:21:15

Motleys talking with Victoria & her husband

KIM: I want to make sure that as survivors that your voice is heard not just in court but with regards to this whole process. If you wanted legal representation, I’d be happy to represent you pro bono.

VICTORIA: He needs to know how he affected my life, your life, even your life, you know, because you have to see your husband suffer, your kids, they have to see their father suffer.

CLAUDE: And you’re a survivor, and just like me, I feel empowered by being here, being able to tell my story and tell people that, you know what, I’m standing up to it, you know.

01:21:46

TITLE: Children’s Court, Milwaukee County

01:21:58

In court

TITLE: Status hearing to discuss Nathan’s placement while case is pending

CLERK: Calling case 14JV624 in the interest of Nathan King.

JUDGE: Thanks, everyone, good morning. I want to find out how things are going with the current order, which is an unsecure order. Nathan’s placed at home.

HAMMOND: He knows he’s not supposed to be hanging out. He knows they shouldn’t be at his house and he knows who got him into that wheelchair and what got him into that wheelchair, you know, he has to earn that trust.

01:22:21

KIM: From Victoria Davison’s standpoint, she is asking that Mr. King be held in custody while this matter is pending. We’d also ask the court to require that Nathan be put in educational programming. We do think that’s an important part of what he needs to participate at wherever he is.

JUDGE: Let me ask the parents of Nathan, is he enrolled in any sort of school at this point or is he going to be able to attend any school in the fall?

REGINA: He’s enrolled in Greenfield High School. We sent our kids out of the city.

01:22:53

Talking with Ms. Ragland

TITLE: Regina Ragland, Nathan’s Mother

REGINA: Nathan was a 220 student, and that’s where you get to choose where you want your kids to go to school, not in the Milwaukee Public School system, which is, in my opinion, not real good, so I sent Nathan to school in Greenfield.

01:23:10

Images of Nathan growing up

There was literally a handful of Black kids that went to those schools and nine times out of 10 they were 220. He did not want to go to school out there, he didn’t, but we said everything we could to make him understand, this is your ticket out of here.

01:23:29

Montage of family photos

I just wanted my kids to have a sense of normalcy, the, quote, unquote, American dream, you buy a home and raise your kids in them and send them to decent schools and watch them play sports.

01:23:44

TITLE: Zeke Banks, Nathan’s Greenfield Classmate

ZEKE: We played basketball together. Like I see his shots that I just be like, I don’t know how he did it, 3’s, tricky shots, attack the basket, all-around player.

01:23:55

REGINA: He’s a very smart, gifted kid.

01:24:00

In court

TITLE: Voice of Nathan’s stepfather, Dwight

DWIGHT: I talked with his principal and I explained to her that he was in the wheelchair now and possibly would be paralyzed when school started back. She said, no, she’s not kicking him out of the school, he’s still a student of Greenfield High School at this time.

01:24:15

In court

JUDGE: I’ll be honest. In this type of case with these types of charges pending, it’s very unusual to have a child placed outside of secure detention, but because we have a child in this case, Nathan, who is possibly, you know, paralyzed for life, I think which is obviously devastating for him and for his family, I’m going to continue Nathan’s placement at home. It’s clear that’s the only place he can get the type of medical care he needs.

01:24:46

In court

You have to be there for every check.  You have to be exactly where you said you were going to be and where you’re supposed to be, okay. Do you understand that, Nathan?

NATHAN: Yeah.

JUDGE: Okay. All right, thanks, everyone.

01:24:55

Kim & Claude talking to reporter

WOMAN: You know, when he rolls in, cute as a button, and then you think about what you went through. I mean, talk about that.

CLAUDE: That was the same person that did not care about my life at the time, recklessly shot into my car.

KIM: I think it’s important to note, too, that he’s from a two-parent household, a great school, the neighborhood is not that bad of a neighborhood that he lives in, you know, this was a real choice that this child was making. And we were all 15-year-olds in Milwaukee, so.

CLAUDE: Exactly. And we weren’t picking up guns and shooting--

KIM: Exactly.

01:25:35

Claude driving, Claude in car talking

CLAUDE: Every time I drive past different points in Milwaukee it just reminds me of that night. When I went back to Charlotte, I thought that maybe, you know, if I get out of this community, if I get out of this situation, that I will feel better but I didn’t. I still, I still was looking over my shoulder. I still didn’t want anybody behind me when I got into the car. But it’s not time to feel sorry, it’s not time to feel sad, it’s time to get determined.

01:26:15

That’s what I want to be, what’s who I want to be thought of, that’s who I want to think of myself to be, too. 

01:26:37

TITLE: Claude’s Childhood Home

On porch at Claude’s dad’s house, images of family pictures

[Laughter]

CLAUDE: Dad ain’t played a day of basketball in his life--

[Laughter]

CLAUDE: Oh, my goodness.

CHARISSIA: We moved in in 1970. We were the second Black family on this block.

01:26:46

TITLE: Charles Motley, Claude’s father

CHARLES: When we moved in here, you know, signs, you know, was going all up all over--

CHARISSIA: For-sale signs?

CHARLES: For-sale signs, you know, you got to sell now because Black people are moving in, you know.

01:26:58

Family on porch talking, images of family photos

CLAUDE: You know, I was an outdoor kid, so I was all over the place. I really truly was pushing the boundaries when it came down to going places [chuckles].

CHARISSIA: Our father had a whistle for us.

CLAUDE: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

CHARISSIA: So, because we could be, we could only go as far as he could whistle. Our neighborhood was much different than it is now.

CHARLES: It’s been changing for years, of course, you know. I saw a young man get shot across yesterday, people get shot up and down this street.

01:27:24

TITLE: Charissia Smith, Claude’s sister

And I think about how I live and how I’m always checking and watching and there’s a realization that I don’t have the freedoms that I thought I had. I thought I had freedom. After you was shot, my first thought was, oh, my goodness, why was he sitting still on 63rd and Capitol at night? And I shouldn’t think that, he should be free to do whatever he wants.

01:27:46

Family talking on porch

CHARLES: I just thank God for that situation turning out like it did. You know, I’ve always loved him but the love just grows deeper, you know, blessed to have him around.

01:27:56

Family talking on porch

CHARISSIA: It was unbelievable. It was so random. It’s been devastating to our family, it really has. I think he’s holding up good for everybody else, emotionally as well as mentally, because we know the scars run deeper than just . . .

01:28:29

In living room, Claude & Charissia on sofa

[Claude crying]

CHARLES: You don’t think too hard about it, you know.

CHARISSIA: Right. You got to keep moving, keep going, keep going, keep going, that’s what you keep doing. You just keep going, you keep going, you keep going.

CLAUDE: It’s all right.

CHARISSIA: And it’s one thing to say I’m blessed, I’m blessed but to know how close.

CLAUDE: I’m good, I’m good. I’m good. It’s just a close call. I think about it, but you got a lot to lose, you know.

CHARLES: Yeah, absolutely.

CLAUDE: And, you know, this little dude almost took everything away from me.

CHARLES: Not only from you.

CLAUDE: I know. It affected everybody.

01:29:40

Image of neighborhood, at Pfister Hotel

MAN: Thank you and welcome to our 11th annual honoree luncheon to acknowledge citizens who have demonstrated bravery, courage, commitment.

01:29:48

Victoria in car

VICTORIA: My husband, he said you got a letter from the sheriff, and he said, well, they want to honor you for your act of bravery, and I said, I didn’t have an act of bravery. I had an act of, you know, what I felt was life or death, I don’t think that was really bravery.

01:30:05

At award ceremony

MAN: It was the fighting spirit of Ms. Davison that carried the day for her. Her quick reactions in defense of her life, leading to the apprehension and disassembly of an armed robbery carjacking crew. The sheriff’s office is proud to present Victoria Davison with a citizen’s medal of valor.

[Applause]

01:30:37

At awards ceremony

VICTORIA: I really don’t feel like a hero. I think the police think that maybe I showed bravery because I didn’t become a victim, but I do feel like a victim, and I broke one of those, you know, nursing oaths, to do no harm, like I did do harm to him. I could have possibly killed somebody’s 15-year-old son, somebody who’s only two years older than our oldest son.

01:31:20

Victoria with her children

VICTORIA: Do you have any homework?

CHILD: No.

VICTORIA: Do you have your colors and your number of the week?

CHILD: [Inaudible]

01:31:33

TITLE: Janine Lee, Victoria’s mother

At Victoria’s house

LEE: It’s just hard, seeing my daughter go through all these changes that she has went through. She’s not this happy-go-lightly person. She’s just like, like this all the time, tensed all, that’s what it is, tense. The boys, they used to go outside all the time and she used to sit outside and they’d be playing, and now she’s in or if she’s not my son-in-law he’s out with her because she’s not by herself at all, ever.

Images of neighborhood

TITLE: 4 Months Since Shooting

Outside Juvenile Justice Center

01:32:25

In court

TITLE: (Kim Motley on the phone)

KIM: From our perspective, we’re very shocked that Nathan went AWOL, especially myself being a former public defender, he had a pretty good deal. And so I guess our question is, where did he go, who was he with, and why did he go AWOL.

JUDGE: I’m going to back to Ms. [inaudible] about what probation’s best information is right now.

WOMAN: His mother reportedly was taking him outside in the wheelchair for fresh air. He asked her for a glass of water. She went in to get it and when she returned Nathan was gone. Although we’ve heard since then that Nathan got on a bus, this came from Nathan himself. Nathan subsequently refused to say where he went, who he was with and what he did.

01:33:07

In court

TITLE: (Voice of Regina Ragland)

JUDGE: I do want to hear from Mrs. Ragland. Does the family need a court to place Nathan outside of the home at this point?

REGINA: No. I’m not going to say that. I’m his mother. I’m not going to say that, no [crying].

01:33:20

In court

JUDGE: At this point, based on the record I’m seeing, I’m going to maintain the current placement, which is placement at home. You are facing a possible waiver into adult court, where you would be facing a very long sentence, and if you’re AWOL again, well, first, you won’t be going home again, okay.

NATHAN: Yes, Your Honor.

JUDGE: Okay, and second, you’re pretty much telling the court you have no interest in participating in the juvenile justice system, where we expect juveniles to work to get better. If you have no intention of getting better, we’ll find somewhere where you can stay.

01:33:56

Motleys talking with legal team

CLAUDE: I just feel that the judge is not looking at how things are affecting me, you know, and the cost to me to actually go through this. I still have to talk to the bill collectors about the insurance. I still have to, I have to go through all of this stuff just for sitting in my car.

HAMMOND: Right.

CLAUDE: You know, and this guy has a bad attitude about it.

HAMMOND: Right.

CLAUDE: It bothers me to, you know, and it bothers me because, you know, all this has been heaped up upon my shoulders for no reason at all. At least we want to go ahead and show him that this is serious.

01:34:21

Motleys talking with legal team

HAMMOND: We had the violation, which I think was pretty bad, honestly, it was the violation of the agreement. He was supposed to do everything right. And honestly, if you are home in a wheelchair how hard should it be to do everything right, and the fact that he took off, first of all, makes me believe he’s taken off before and this time he just didn’t come home when he was supposed to.

CLAUDE: Mm-hmm.

HAMMOND: I’m not comfortable anymore with the deal.

01:34:44

Motleys talking with legal team

HAMMOND: One of the problems we have with the kids with their criminal thinking that deal with is they’re still not getting it, and we’ve had numerous kids who’ve been killed in the city since last spring into the summer, and it has not deterred their friends. In fact, they, you know, they’re doing memorial robberies for the kids who have died, so it’s, they’re not putting two and two together, and I don’t think this kid’s putting two and two together either.

01:35:09

Motleys talking with legal team

HAMMOND: They say, okay, 24 is a good age where you can say the brain is developed.

01:35:14

TITLE: Det. Eric Draeger, Milwaukee Police Department

DET. DRAEGER: If he gets out before that, he’s probably going to go and commit another offense similar to what he did already.

HAMMOND: Yeah.

DET. DRAEGER: That’s a huge risk.

HAMMOND: Yeah. I can’t have him shoot somebody else while I’m waiting for his brain to develop. Does it mean locking him up? Yes. I’m sorry. I mean, it’s not popular, it’s not a popular thing to say.

01:35:29

DET. DRAEGER: You know, I’m pretty confident that we’ve got the best shot possible to get him waived into adult court. This isn’t a game and this isn’t a joke anymore and, you know, this isn’t just going to be, oh, we’re all under 17 so nothing bad is going to happen to us.

KIM: Right.

CLAUDE: Mm-hmm.

DET. DRAEGER: Well, you know, they have to realize that, absent major life changes, this is where you’re going to end up, the adult system, and that’s bad.

01:36:03

Images around Milwaukee, at Froedtert Hospital

TITLE: Surgery #2

NURSE: Does it hurt going in?

CLAUDE: No.

NURSE: Just cold? Any pain?

CLAUDE: Nh-nuh.

NURSE: So you ready for the holidays?

CLAUDE: No.

[Chuckling]

CLAUDE: Actually I’m taking the bar.

NURSE: Like for law?

CLAUDE: Yeah--

NURSE: Oh, goodness.

CLAUDE: Yeah, I had my last exam yesterday.

NURSE: Oh, my gosh--

CLAUDE: Yeah, yeah, so--

NURSE: Wow. That’s pretty exciting.

01:36:23

Doctor examining & talking to Claude

DOCTOR: That’s loose and that’s loose. We reviewed your CT scan and we kind of showed on the area on the inside of the tongue is that exposed bone.

CLAUDE: Right.

DOCTOR: So I think the plan today is hopefully just to stay within the mouth, no more incisions in the neck, and take out that segment of bone, so you’re likely going to wake up missing these two teeth.

CLAUDE: That’s fine.

DOCTOR: And then we’re going to take out that exposed piece of bone.

CLAUDE: Okay.

DOCTOR: Okay.

CLAUDE: Okay, okay.

DOCTOR: What we need to let you do is let that tissue heal over and get closure and then we’re going to have to go back in through the neck and then graft that area with your hip bone. It’s the best source of bone, take that and graft it into the area, let that heal, and then we can go in and place implants in there.

CLAUDE: Okay.

DOCTOR: Okay, but we got to do it in a stepwise fashion, exactly. All righty, we’re going to get the operating room set up. We’ll come and see you when they wheel you back.

CLAUDE: Sounds great.

DOCTOR: All right, thank you.

CLAUDE: All right.

01:37:28

Wheeling Claude to surgery

01:37:40

TITLE: Charlotte, North Carolina, 9 Days Later

KIM: Your room is a disaster . . .

01:37:52

Preparing for graduation

KIM: Cherish wants to wear what she’s wearing. Do you want her to wear a dress?

CLAUDE: No, she doesn’t have to wear a dress.

KIM: It’s too cold to wear a dress.

CLAUDE: Is it too cold to, okay.

SON: It’s not that cold.

CLAUDE: I had leggings for her, so if you were influencing her--

KIM: I didn’t say for her it’s too cold. For me. I don’t have like a long dress.

CLAUDE: Which says something about you. How old are you?

[Chuckling]

01:38:16

Preparing for graduation

CLAUDE: I have the silliest hat in the world. It’s one of them soft hats.

KIM: That’s supposed to be, that’s a doctorate hat.

CLAUDE: Is that what it is?

KIM: Yeah.

CLAUDE: A doctorate hat?

KIM: Yeah.

[Chuckling]

CLAUDE: Maybe I should know that.

01:38:27

Preparing for graduation

[Music swells]

CLAUDE: My father only reached the third grade. My mother barely graduated from high school. Not saying anything bad, but I was told by my parents as long as you get a C you’re fine. I had nothing to strive for because your expectations were so low.

01:38:42

At kitchen table

TITLE: Cherish

CLAUDE: Obviously you all know that I’m going to be graduating, and we know how we got to this point. You know, it’s been a long trek.

CHERISH: I am glad that you’re graduating because you don’t eat that, you don’t eat food that much and I feel like you don’t sleep that much.

CLAUDE: Hm. Wow.

01:39:07

TITLE: Deiva

KIM: What about you, D, what have you learned from this?

DEIVA: That I guess the world isn’t really a good place sometimes.

CHERISH: Wow.

DEIVA: No, I mean, like because it’s just, like, no, it is a good place. It’s just like, it’s just a lot of things changed, I don’t know, it’s just what happened, it’s just I realized a lot of stuff.

01:39:28

CLAUDE: You can’t allow people to make your destiny. You have to think for yourself at all times.

01:39:37

At graduation

CLAUDE: How you doing? Congratulations, man.

MAN: Finally, man.

CLAUDE: Yeah, I know, I know.

MAN: We’re graduating law school, not prison.

[Laughter]

01:40:01

Kim and family in audience, graduates coming out, Claude on stage, family together

ANNOUNCER: Claudiare L. Motley

[Applause]

Shot of waterside

01:40:27

TITLE: Waiver Hearing, to determine whether Nathan should be moved to adult court.

[Music swells]

01:40:34

TITLE: 7 Months Since Shooting

At Youth and Family Justice Center

CLERK: This is Case 14JV624 in the interest of Nathan King.

JUDGE: Well, we’re in court today for a hearing on the state’s petition for waiver.

01:40:42

Talking to Claude, shots of Nathan in courtroom

CLAUDE: When I was coming to the courthouse, they were getting out of the car, so we went through the metal detectors together and we kind of finally really for the first time looked at each other and said hello to each other, you know. I didn’t know if I wanted to talk to him. I didn’t know, I didn’t know what to do. That was kind of a surreal moment for me, right there.

01:41:06

In courtroom, talking to Claude

CLAUDE: I’m coming into the situation wanting him to be an example to everybody, this whole situation in Milwaukee, this whole situation of violence and young kids and picking up guns, and I just want it, I want it to be an example, and now it feels like I’m trying to get him.

What am I fighting? Who am I fighting?

01:41:28

BOWE: Nathan King in person by Attorney Anne Bowe. Good afternoon.

01:41:32

TITLE: Anne Bowe, Nathan’s Defense Attorney

Talking with Ms. Bowe, in courtroom

BOWE: I’ve never had a waiver case in which I thought the child should be tried in the adult system. There’s a point to having a children’s court system. Nathan was the poster child for a non-developed pre-frontal brain. He was so clearly a kid, not a mature even young adult, much less an adult.

01:41:51

TITLE: Roxanne Bruyette, Nathan’s Probation Officer

BOWE: Nathan has no prior criminal record prior to this terrible situation. Is that true?

BRUYETTE: That is correct.

BOWE: Would you say that generally the parents’ attitudes are prosocial and appropriate attitudes?

BRUYETTE: Yes. It’s quite rare for us to have a family in which there is a mother and father figure, both employed, nice home in a nice neighborhood. This is just highly unusual for me.

01:42:15

Talking to Ms. Ragland, in courtroom

REGINA: I didn’t expect your son to come from this, a two-parent home, nice house, nice neighborhood, like I should have been in the center of the ghetto with roaches and problems.

01:42:32

In courtroom

CLERK: Do you solemnly swear that the testimony given in this matter is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you God?

REGINA: Yes, ma’am.

BOWE: Nathan King is your son.

REGINA: Yes, ma’am.

BOWE: And you see him here in court sitting next to me.

REGINA: Yes [crying].

BOWE: It’s okay. Before he started skipping school and skipping out from home, would you say that the rules were pretty strict in your household?

REGINA: Absolutely.

BOWE: Had you been continuing with the family therapy sessions?

REGINA: Yes, ma’am.

BOWE: And had you been continuing with his physical therapy sessions?

REGINA: The physical therapy got discontinued because his leg is locked in the sitting position and has been for months now.

BOWE: And what do you understand to be the long-term result of that?

REGINA: That it just will, it’ll stay like that if he doesn’t get physical therapy, he will stay in that chair forever [crying].

01:43:28

TITLE: Dr. Stephen Emiley, Evaluating Psychologist

BOWE: What were the notable things to you about Nathan?

EMILEY: His father had separated from the mother while she was still pregnant. He was in and out of jail for much of his development. He had little contact with, until about 2014, at that point Father resurfaced. There was an attempt to reestablish contact, and it was very disappointing. Father did not follow through with developing a relationship with him and that was viewed by Nathan as a pretty significant area of depression and disappointment and anger.

01:44:03

Images of Nathan, talking to Ms. Ragland

[Music swells]

REGINA: He was supposed to come get Nathan one weekend and Nathan waited and waited and waited, just sitting in that window for hours, hours, 7:00 comes, 8:00 comes, 9:00 comes, and I was like, Nathan, please stop looking out that window. Finally Nathan just stopped calling and then the running away started right away, like right away after that. I want to say within a week’s time, Nathan was running away.

01:44:30

Nathan in courtroom, talking with Ms. Ragland

REGINA: Then the phone calls started coming home, his grades are slipping, he’s not going to be eligible for the basketball team anymore if he can’t keep his grades up.

01:44:39

Talking with friend, images of Nathan playing basketball

FRIEND: I know he hated that, like he hated the fact that he couldn’t play. I know a lot of people who took the other route because sports didn’t work out for them.

01:44:48

REGINA: He just deteriorated so fast.

01:44:51

TITLE: Det. Eric Draeger, Milwaukee Police Department

HAMMOND: Is there a particular crew or area of the city that Mr. King identifies with?

DET. DRAEGER: Yes, he was claiming Meadows, which is an area up on the north side of Milwaukee.

01:45:03

TITLE: Montae Brown, Greenfield Middle School Classmate

Facebook & other images

BROWN: They call their self like the Meadow Boys, that’s where his identity went and that’s when things started to go because of the choices he was making. I think it was probably his cousin, like I know Nate and Lamont had like a strong relationship, and Lamont, that’s like where he’s from.  You always just want to display, like, even though I’m here and I’m in Greenfield, I’m in the suburbs, I ain’t going to, I’m still from the ‘hood, like at the end of the day, deep down, I’m still Nate and I’m still a Meadow Boy and, you know . . .

01:45:37

Claude taking stand

CLERK: Do you solemnly swear that the testimony given in this matter is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you God?

CLAUDE: Yes, I do.

01:45:51

In courtroom, Claude on the stand

BOWE: Is this the first time you’ve seen Nathan?

CLAUDE: Yes, it is, except for the last time I was here for court.

BOWE: [Inaudible] 15-year-old boys.

CLAUDE: I was actually one at one point in time.

BOWE: Do you think that they have mature reasoning abilities?

CLAUDE: I do know that a 15-year-old boy knows what happens if you pick up a gun and shoot it at someone. This is not a juvenile situation. This was an adult crime. I think he really need to understand that by going through the adult court system.

01:46:24

In courtroom

BOWE: And do you see the benefit of the programs that he’s been able to be involved in here?

CLAUDE: It seems to me that there’s a resistance to change. I understand that you have to always be looking forward to the future and be positive about the future, but you also have to take responsibility for what you do every day.

01:46:48

Aerial shot of city

TITLE: Before the completion of the waiver hearing, Nathan goes AWOL again, this time picked up at school by friends.

[Music swells]

TITLE: He has been attending his local Milwaukee Public High School, after getting kicked out of Greenfield High School.

[Music]

Shot of Children’s Court

TITLE: He is caught, arrested, and put in secure detention at the Children’s Court.

[Music]

01:47:11

Nathan being wheeled in courtroom

DET. DRAEGER: Mom says she was there to pick him up. She states that two guys in a van picked Nathan up out of his wheelchair--

01:47:19

Talking to Ms. Ragland

REGINA: I just start laying on the horn, beep, I’m just laying on it, like, and I put the window down and I’m like, I see you, don’t you dare pull off with my son in that car. I’m screaming out the window. By this point, Nathan’s getting his legs into the vehicle, they’re slamming the door and they take off. They take off in such a high rate of speed that they leave Nathan’s wheelchair in the parking lot.

01:47:47

Talking with Ms. Ragland

So I’m like, either I chase these kids down with my baby in the car or I just let them go, so I just let them go.

01:47:57

In courtroom

HAMMOND: So you get picked up at school in a stolen van. How are you supposed to get home?

NATHAN: I wasn’t planning on going back to the house.

HAMMOND: You were planning on staying out.

NATHAN: Yes.

01:48:10

In courtroom

HAMMOND: Is there a particularly targeted robbery crew of carjackers that is terrorizing part of the city right now?

DET. DRAEGER: Absolutely. Mr. King was arrested in the house of one of the associates of this particular crew along with property that was recovered in a carjacking that had just occurred.

01:48:27

In courtroom

BOWE: He was in the same house as some of the property. He was not in any personal possession of any stolen property, correct?

DET. DRAEGER: He was not in possession of any stolen property.

BOWE: When the police came, he was sitting in the living room with his friend.

DET. DRAEGER: Correct.

BOWE: You heard the description of you getting picked up and put in the van. Is that what happened?

NATHAN: Yeah.

BOWE: And then what happened to the GPS?

NATHAN: I took it off.

BOWE: And where did it end up?

NATHAN: When we were driving I just threw it out the window.

BOWE: Threw it out the window. Was that a good idea?

NATHAN: No.

01:48:59

In courtroom

BOWE: So what really, what were you thinking at that point? Why did you do this?

NATHAN: It’s just being in the house and everything, I’m not used to it.

01:49:17

In courtroom

Dear Judge Swanson, I want you to know that I think about the crimes I did, mostly when I shot Mr. Motley in the face. I think about that all the time. I just don’t know how to speak about it. I’m just trying to say at least give me a break and keep me in the juvenile system, sincerely, Nathan King.

01:49:44

In courtroom

JUDGE: These offenses weren’t just serious. They were violent, aggressive, premeditated and willful, and there’s no question here. This case has been in this court for eight months. We had three months of functional family therapy. It didn’t appear to have an impact. The fact is, after months of effort, Nathan chose to AWOL again and not just AWOL but to AWOL with a bunch of young men who were involved in the exact same crimes that led him to commit the crimes he was charged with in these cases. I just don’t find that the juvenile system is adequate to address either this type of crime or his needs. On that basis, the court grants the waiver of the petition filed by the state in this case and hereby waives jurisdiction in this case to the adult court.

01:50:30

In courtroom

[Regina crying]

[Music swells]

01:50:51

TITLE: Nathan pleads guilty to two counts of armed robbery and awaits sentencing in adult court.

[Music]

House in Charlotte

TITLE: Claude spends 2 months studying extensively for the bar exam.

01:51:15

Claude studying, Claude in hospital bed

CLAUDE: My jaw broke two weeks before I had to take the test. When I saw my jaw broke one of the hinges broke out of the bone, and my whole jaw shifted to the side, so I could not take the bar the first time. I had to wait another six months.

01:51:33

At hospital

TITLE: Surgery #3

They’re going to once again go in on my scars, cut this all out and raise my face up and taking out my whole plate, cleaning out the infection, putting in a new plate.

KIM: Good luck.

CLAUDE: Major surgery, wasn’t prepared for it.

01:51:50

TITLE: Claude’s sisters

CLAUDE: You know, these bills are killing me. I was just going through, I was sitting here just going through my stuff.

SISTER: The state doesn’t pay for it?

SISTER: Nobody pays for that?

CLAUDE: The state is capped at $40,000.

SISTER: Isn’t that transferred to that boy who did that?

CLAUDE: No. I mean, what you going to get from them? What you going to get from him? Well, with a regular loan, I’m at $85,000. The medical college, I’m $40,000 into.

SISTER: That’s $125,000.

CLAUDE: These are the individual doctors--

SISTER: That’s unbelievable.

CLAUDE: I have insurance, but the insurance dropped me.

SISTER: What?

SISTER: You are kidding?

SISTER: That is scary.

CLAUDE: I was paying like $330 a month for our family, with the insurance I had. I went back into the marketplace, $1,200 a month for the family, and then I have a preexisting condition, so I got denied by like three different insurances--

SISTER: They do that--

CLAUDE: --until I finally found one.

SISTER: Oh, you did find one.

CLAUDE: Yeah, I did find one.

01:52:41

Talking with sisters

SISTER: So you multiply this by all the people that have been shot--

[Simultaneous discussion]

CLAUDE: --I think I was told like 500 people have been shot in the last year, been shot and injured--

[Simultaneous discussion]

SISTER: --500 people being shot by $125,000, that’s putting a burden on these families, we couldn’t survive.

CLAUDE: You know, at this point in time I’m still two or three surgeries away from even being finalizing this stuff, so I don’t even know where I’m at--

SISTER: We are here.

SISTER: Yes, we are.

CLAUDE: Well, you always going to be here because by birth you all have been recruited to be my support system--

SISTERS: Amen--

[Chuckling]

[Simultaneous discussion]

CLAUDE: You have no choice--

01:53:21

At Victoria’s home, Victoria moving

[Music swells]

MAN: I need to know what you’re taking.

VICTORIA: This stuff, right here, my book bag, this bag. All the books I been bringing are all nursing books. We’ve been moving almost every weekend, moving more stuff from the house over. It seems overwhelming. I felt my kids were, you know, being prisoners in their home. My son hasn’t even rode his bike that he got like from two Christmases ago.

[Trunk slams]

01:54:07

In Whitefish Bay

VICTORIA: We researched a lot of the suburban areas that were safer. We looked at places where we knew that people who did crimes wouldn’t want to go to, where is an area where the police basically harass you, because if they’re harassing you then we know that it’ll keep other people who don’t belong in the area out.

01:54:29

Outside Victoria’s home

MAN: Like how many Black people have you seen?

VICTORIA: Out of all of these buildings, I’ve only seen two other families. We went to the office and she said, oh, well, by the way, I didn’t want to call you and talk to you about it, but we got a complaint of a domestic disturbance, was her exact words.

[Music swells]

Then we had the police called on us. We were in the bed sleeping. They, you know, banged on the door and they said we got a call of, again, they used the same word, of a domestic disturbance, they said there was a lot of fighting, yelling, screaming, and he told his partner, he said, yeah, there’s nothing here, I don’t know why they called. And I said, I know why they called. They called because they’re racist.

01:55:09

Outside Victoria’s house

For us, the tradeoff is being in a better neighborhood. I definitely think that being in a safer neighborhood for the sake of my kids is definitely better.

01:55:23

At Milwaukee Tech class reunion cookout

[Music & announcements]

[Greetings]

01:55:35

At class reunion cookout

MAN: A big shout-out to my man Claude Motley who in the building from the last time, though, we had a tragic incident but God kept him. You all make some noise for Claude in the building, you all make some noise for Claude in the building.

[Cheering & applause]

CLAUDE: Thank you.

01:55:48

Claude talking with friends

MAN: After Claude’s situation, my daughter was carjacked at gunpoint coming home from a friend’s house. She’s still petrified, terrorized. I saw something on Facebook the other day, a little kid was on there talking about, oh, you know what, it’s fun, it’s something to do. Like, they have no remorse for human life.

CLAUDE: Right, right.

MAN: I mean, with something like that, when you saw him, did you feel like you could forgive him?

01:56:09

Claude talking with friends

CLAUDE: Forgiveness comes with what he does, you know, what he does with his life.

MAN: He can still better himself.

MAN: Right.

MAN: You know, maybe prison is where he need to be.

CLAUDE: And get that structure that he needs--

MAN: Yeah, get the structure that he needs.

SCOTT: We don’t need one more young Black man who enters the system. It’s very easy for you to make a mistake as a young man in Milwaukee and then get caught up in the juvenile justice system.

01:56:33

Claude talking with friends

SCOTT: But in order to be successful, there’s no roadmap, there’s very little support system. It’s like you’ve got to know somebody, you’ve got to be lucky, you’ve got to be in the right place at the right time, you’ve got to be smart enough. But if you on the bad road, it’s like step over here, and it’s done.

01:57:01

Claude driving, pulling up in front of house

CLAUDE: It’s a small house. Wow. I could see myself in Nathan’s shoes, taking that wrong turn, making some bad choices, being influenced. When I was 16, I left the house, too.

01:57:24

At Claude’s aunt’s house, images of family photos

This is my aunt Vera’s house. This was a lifesaver. My room was right here, right up here. I was 16 when I moved in with her because this, you know, just some things that happened with my father, the strictness of his rules and punishments got intolerable, to the point where he was actually hitting me, you know, because I got too big for him to just whip like, you know, and so we began to get into, I wouldn’t say we began to get into fistfights, he began fighting and hitting, and so that was intolerable so I had to leave the house, because it was either me hitting him back or me leaving the house.

01:58:06

Talking with Scott, images of family photos

SCOTT: When Claude finally opened up and said something to me, you know, it had been going on for a while. It started with his mom, and then it moved on to him. He’s the youngest so pretty much everybody else has moved out of the house.

01:58:19

Talking with Claude outside his aunt’s house

CLAUDE: Fortunately, my auntie, she had a boardinghouse here, so she allowed me to stay above her and there was two other guys living there. And this is where, the end of my sophomore year and my junior year I lived in high school. I fixed my own meals, had my own phone, was on my own.

01:58:36

SCOTT: I learned about that like months later, that he had moved into a rooming house. He had kept that from everybody.

01:58:44

Outside Claude’s aunt’s house, images of family photos

CLAUDE: This was all gang member territory. I just didn’t feel safe. I would carry a knife. It ended up costing me, but ended up getting caught with it at school and getting expelled because of that. This was the beginning of the year and was getting a lot of recruitment by different D-1, D-2 colleges, all that fell off, lost all of that. Being out of school, they couldn’t set up scouting dates, just everything fell through. It was devastating.

01:59:15

Talking with Scott, images of family photos

SCOTT: He never like talked bad about his father. I don’t necessarily know where he gets that strength to forgive like he does. It’s almost as if he has, not forgotten some of it, but you know, it’s like he truly left it back there.

TITLE: Sentencing Day

TITLE: 1 Year Since Shooting

At municipal court

01:59:47

Entering courtroom, Claude & Kim talking

KIM: Have you thought about the sentence for Nathan?

CLAUDE: It just becomes a lot bigger than just me. It’s pretty much a statement toward how I feel the community should feel about crimes that’s going on and like how innocent victims should have justice brought to them. What do you think would be a good sentence for him?

KIM: Oh, I’ve sort of withheld what I think he should be sentenced. I know you asked me a couple times, because I’m like I wasn’t the one that was shot.

CLAUDE: Right.

KIM: But you’re asking me now.

CLAUDE: Yep.

KIM: You know, yesterday I went on this prison tour here. We went to this one block. They were all young Black guys. They couldn’t have been over 25. They were in solitary confinement for 23 hours out the day. A lot of them were just going crazy. I mean, they were banging on the door. They were running their bodies in the door.

02:00:47

Kim & Claude talking

You know, and I think about a 16-year-old like Nathan, you know, he’s going to be toast in prison. He’s not going to be able to, and I don’t think prison is the best place to rehabilitate him. There’s so many people locked up here, boys under the age of 30, half in Milwaukee under the age of 30, Black men, are locked up.

02:01:16

Kim & Claude talking

CLAUDE: I mean, I see the statistics, and even though half the people locked up, how has that stemmed any of the crimes that we’re seeing. It becomes, are we talking about, are we trying to do this as a deterrence or are we trying to get justice.

02:01:44

Court getting ready for session

CLERK: State of Wisconsin versus Nathan King, Case Number 15CF1040.

JUDGE: I believe we’re here for sentencing. Is that correct?

HAMMOND: Yes, that is correct, Judge.

02:01:55

In courtroom

The state in this case is asking for a range. We’re asking for somewhere between 10 and 15 years initial confinement followed by eight to 10 years of extended supervision. Given the opportunities that Nathan has had while this whole case has been pending, it’s been over a year now, he has shown an inability to learn from the mistakes and an inability to change his behavior to keep not only our community safe, but to keep him safe as well.

02:02:34

Victoria taking stand

VICTORIA: Nathan King took away my peace. Before I could just go outside and feel normal. Now I don’t. There may be another Nathan King, that’s what I’m always thinking about, what if I run into another Nathan King, all the time. At some point I want to feel safe again.

02:03:01

In courtroom, Claude taking stand

KIM: Your Honor, the last person we’d like to hear from is Claudiare Motley.

JUDGE: What would you like to say about the sentencing, Mr. Motley?

02:03:10

In courtroom

CLAUDE: I’m conflicted. I almost died two times that night. I almost died two times that night I was shot. The bullet could have hit me three inches one way, three inches the other, it could have hit my jugular, could have hit my, anywhere in my head. I’ve been through five operations at this point in time and looking to either go through three or four more.

02:03:48

In courtroom

When you do wrong, you have to be punished because you learn from those punishments. But I hope that he understands that he can do better and he can be a better person.

02:04:06

In courtroom

[Music swells]

CLAUDE: I would like for you to be lenient with him. And I hope that this example can be something that can start a change in his life and the lives of others who choose to continue to do the things that he did and maybe make a difference. Thank you.

JUDGE: Thank you, Mr. Motley. I appreciate the information.

02:04:42

In courtroom

KIM: So we’d ask the court to take our recommendations and to consider giving him five years of prison with credit for time served and five years of extended supervision. We understand that this is an extremely lenient sentence but collectively we all believe in Nathan. Nathan is worth coming back to our community in a positive way.

02:05:12

In courtroom

NATHAN: Since I’ve been incarcerated, I know this isn’t the life that I want to live. I’ve been in here for six months, six months and I realize I have a life ahead of me and I want to finish school and get a job. Also I’ll try hard to get back walking so I can do what I love to do.

02:05:42

In courtroom

I really feel terribly wrong for what I did. Can you show me some mercy so I can be something in life instead of being institutionalized. Sincerely, Nathan King.

02:05:56

In courtroom

JUDGE: Thank you, Mr. King. Sentencings are always hard and I think this one is harder than most. There will be no winners here, and I understand the recommendation made by the attorney for the victims and I’m certainly going to take it into account. I’m not sure of the issues I have here this morning are exactly the same as they have.

02:06:22

In courtroom

Clearly what you have done not only hurt Ms. Davison and Mr. Motley, it has hurt this community as a whole. I suspect the people you hurt have lost some things that can never be given back, so I am going to impose the 20 years on each of the two counts. I believe that means essentially 12 ½ years in prison and seven and a half years on extended supervision.

[Regina crying]

02:06:48

In courtroom

You’ll be about in your late 20s when the incarceration aspect of this case is over.

02:07:05

People exiting court

[Music swells]

[Regina crying]

REGINA: I love you so much [crying].

[Regina crying & sobbing]

Aerial shot of city

House in Charlotte, throwing football around

[Music swells]

02:08:43

TITLE: 2 Years Since Shooting

At Marquette University Law School

GESKE: Why do you want to meet with him? Why do you want to do this?

CLAUDE: Maybe I’m searching for something in him, you know, some remorse, something, I don’t know. I really want to know where he wants to go with this. Is this the pinnacle? I mean, he’s so young. Is there hope?

02:09:00

TITLE: Janine Geske, Director, Marquette University Restorative Justice Initiative

GESKE: You know, I’m optimistic as I can be that he’ll be willing to meet with you.

CLAUDE: Yeah.

GESKE: Most offenders do.

CLAUDE: Yeah.

GESKE: The whole concept of this victim-offender dialogue is really the humanity of all of us. If anything is going to get to Nathan, it’s going to be your story and for you to hear his story, whatever that may be.

02:09:23

Claude talking with Ms. Geske

CLAUDE: So many people that I grew up just went to prison and everything like that. I was teammates with murderers, and I, these guys were good guys. They were my friends. I have a hard time reconciling that, and I would want a second chance. I wanted a second chance. I, when I was struggling, I wanted to tell everybody, that’s not who I am, I’m a different person than what you all, you know, yeah, you see me expelled, you see me having a knife, I live in a bad neighborhood, that’s not who I am as a person.

02:09:54

And I’m just hoping that he might be that same person.

02:10:02

In kitchen

CHERISH: That was Daddy’s [inaudible].

SON: They’re all the same.

KIM: Please give me the pineapple.

KIM & CLAUDE: Cheers.

CLAUDE: You like that?

KIM: Mm-hmm, I bought this from Malaysia.

02:10:16

In kitchen

CLAUDE: One of the things I’m just trying to fight right now is to not let this tear me apart.

02:10:22

In kitchen

I’m making garlic butter shrimp.

02:10:24

In kitchen

I’m having my own struggles with it. Everything’s kicking in, student loans, our medical bills, and I’m still going through surgeries. I’m in debt, serious debt, and I thought the law degree would actually pay for itself, and now I’m, you know, it’s not.

02:10:47

In home office

KIM: So what’s going on with the insurance?

CLAUDE: I got a couple things that has gone to collections.

KIM: So this insurance is supposed to cover which bills?

CLAUDE: I don’t know which bills are going to which at which time.

KIM: Right, but this one you do--

CLAUDE: Because I’ve had like nine different surgeries.

KIM: Has the victim witness paid anything?

CLAUDE: No. I’m going to call them next to find out.

KIM: They haven’t paid anything?

CLAUDE: I don’t think so. I got to make sure.

KIM: All right.

02:11:12

Kim & Claude in home office

KIM: So the ones you have checked are the problems.

CLAUDE: All of these are problems.

KIM: Everything.

CLAUDE: Because it’s on my credit report, right.

[Calling insurance company]

02:11:28

Kim & Claude in home office, Claude leaves for a while & returns

KIM: Just tell me you need it. You don’t have to be a smartass, Jesus Christ.

CLAUDE: What are you talking about?

[Simultaneous discussion]

KIM: Because you’re acting testy. You’re acting fucking defensive. You’re acting like all this shit for no reason--

CLAUDE: All right, can we cut this, can we cut this out, can we stop this?

02:11:49

In home office

CLAUDE: So what questions do you have? Let me answer your questions before we get on this phone.

KIM: Just because you’re ready to come back and talk about it doesn’t mean I’m fucking calmed down.

CLAUDE: What, like I said, you could take a walk.

KIM: Well, I don’t need to take a walk, because--

[Simultaneous discussion]

CLAUDE: Well, then calm down, then, then calm down--

KIM: No, you calm the fuck down, I don’t want to talk--

CLAUDE: If that’s the problem, then don’t.

KIM: I don’t want to talk right now.

CLAUDE: Okay. Then calm down and walk away.

KIM: I don’t need to walk because I don’t need a walk to fucking calm down--

[Simultaneous discussion]

CLAUDE: Well, then what, so you just going to be here and be mad--

KIM: --I’m going to sit here and take my minute--

CLAUDE: --and just talk about it--

KIM: --just like you walked away, and so I’m going to sit here and fucking calm down and then we can do this.

02:12:26

In home office

CLAUDE: I’m going to get started on it.

KIM: Yeah, of course. That’s effective.

CLAUDE: Because I don’t know how long it’s going to take for you to calm down.

KIM: Like I said, a minute, so I guess it’s--

CLAUDE: All right, I’ll give you a minute then--

[Simultaneous discussion]

KIM: --it’s a smart thing to keep riling me up. That’s effective.

CLAUDE: Yeah, because you the only person that gets mad--

KIM: Right, because I didn’t go running after you after you walked away--

02:12:49

In home office

[Calling insurance company]

CLAUDE: I was calling because I’ve had, I think I have multiple claims that were denied and I just wanted to see what those denials were based on.

OPERATOR: I did pull up a couple of the claims here, for example, the one that was $17,504, as well as the one for $2,233.

CLAUDE: Correct.

OPERATOR: Both of those show that they were complications or consequences of a preexisting condition and that’s why that they were denied. All benefits will be subject to any inside benefit limitations that set forth below as well as the coverage period maximum benefits amount shown on the schedule of benefits.

02:13:25

In home office

OPERATOR: Your policy does not cover joint replacement or other treatments of joints, spine, bones or connective tissue, including tendons, ligaments, and cartilage.

02:13:36

In home office

CLAUDE: Those are state-mandated benefits.

OPERATOR: For the state of North Carolina there is not a state mandate for that.

CLAUDE: Okay.

KIM: Is there any way you can just let us know now over the phone the claims that have been denied by Allied?

OPERATOR: $57,000 has been denied for an exclusion against your policy.

KIM: Okay.

02:14:03

In home office

CLAUDE: Oh, my God.

KIM: Okay. Okay, first of all--

CLAUDE: Yes.

KIM: High five. Hug. All right. I’m sorry.

CLAUDE: I’m sorry, too. I’m sorry, too.

KIM: Well, at least we’re knowing more so that’s good.

CLAUDE: Yeah.

KIM: It could be worse.

CLAUDE: Could it? It could, yeah.

KIM: It could.

CLAUDE: Bankruptcy might have to be part of the thought process.

KIM: I hate to go the bankruptcy route.

CLAUDE: Especially trying to start my career, definitely would not put a lot of confidence in new clients.

02:15:05

Claude studying

CLAUDE: I’ve been studying for it for about three months. I have not been taking care of my body properly, don’t get a lot of sleep. So right now this is, I’m doing it for the second time. I’m putting a lot of pressure on it because it’s very hard mentally and physically to actually do this and so I don’t want to do it again.

02:15:38

TITLE: Claude finishes taking the bar exam over the course of 2 days

Walking to the bus stop

CLAUDE: Oh, man. It’s funny, because I had a little budget and I got like seven dollars left and I’m trying to decide where I’m going to have my celebratory meal on seven dollars [chuckles]. I got to get to, get back to working. Work, goals.

02:16:12

Walking to the bus stop

I’m, I’m, I don’t think I’m the same person as I was a while ago, because now this is having more of a longtime lingering effect of my life, you know, that I don’t think I deserved.  It’s just, it’s pissing me off. I hate to say it, but it’s just bullshit.

Claude getting on bus

TITLE: Claude did not pass the North Carolina Bar Exam

02:16:51

At tattoo parlor

VICTORIA: Hello. It’s still healing. I think it’s going, it’s doing pretty good, though. Perfect.

MAN: You putting that one right next to the shotgun, right?

VICTORIA: Yep. Yeah, that’s why I have the blank space. I just wanted something, you know, pretty, feminine, and with the [inaudible] I learned, I change, I suffer, because I think throughout this whole process I am still going through a lot with the whole incident.

02:17:28

At tattoo parlor

I haven’t even went back to work because I’m afraid that I will have a patient that is similar to one of the people that robbed me and me having flashbacks. I don’t think that I can take care of them in the way that they need to be taken care of.

02:17:47

At tattoo parlor

I’m trying to take back my sense of security. I’m trying to move on from the whole situation and not, you know, remain stuck in the past.

02:18:11

Driving up to house, going into house

CLAUDE: I’m exhausted, again. Ooh, goodness gracious, this thing is getting worse and worse every hour that go past. Yeah, they got me again. They went in there and took some bone from my hip.

02:18:37

At hospital

TITLE: Surgery #10

They did a bone graft, got in there nice and clean, so now they’ll be able to put implants in. And it feels good. It’s not scarring up really at all, so it’s not getting that scar tissue, that coarse scar tissue.

02:18:49

Claude sits down

June 20th, 2014, was when I got shot, and then my last surgery was June 20th, 2017, so full circle, three years, hopefully. Hopefully it’s my last one. I really feel good about it, though, because I, you know, how strong it feels, so I’m pretty sure this’ll be the last one.

Claude driving

[Music swells]

02:19:39

Claude arriving at correctional institution

CLAUDE: I haven’t pushed forward on it the way I wanted to. I haven’t, and I don’t know why and I think that it’s because I really haven’t had any closure on it. I want to see him in a different light. I want to see my potential in a different light.

02:20:07

Claude entering room with Nathan

GESKE: And Nathan, Nathan is going to walk over, he wants to walk over to the seat, so Nathan, this is Claude.

CLAUDE: Hey, what’s going on, man.

GESKE: And so here, let me give you your crutches.

02:20:28

Nathan walks on crutches

GESKE: And, Nathan, I’m going to put you here. And, Claude, if you want to have a seat across from him. Can I move it a little more for you or is it good?

02:20:53

Claude & Nathan sit down across from one another

NATHAN: How are you?

CLAUDE: Good.  How you doing?

NATHAN: I’m okay.

CLAUDE: Regardless of how this conversation goes, let me just tell you one thing, that I am, I’m proud of you, that you were able to come here and sit down and do this.

NATHAN: Yeah.

CLAUDE: It’s not an easy thing to do, period, you know, for either one of us, but, you know, you didn’t have to do it.

NATHAN: Yeah.

CLAUDE: So, I’m just, you know, thankful.

02:21:18

Claude & Nathan talking

CLAUDE: I kind of really want to hear, you know, who, who are you, I don’t know who, you know, if you can just tell me like from before what happened. How was your childhood growing up?

NATHAN: It was, it was kind of, it was good. My real dad wasn’t around but I had my stepdad around as a role model, so my childhood was, I had a decent childhood.

02:21:39

Claude & Nathan talking

CLAUDE: Did you?

NATHAN: Yeah. Before this situation, I started to play basketball for Greenfield High School, but my grades weren’t good enough so I couldn’t play, but I played middle school basketball, too, so, in eighth grade we won a championship, so.

CLAUDE: Oh, okay. All right. Well, so, let me ask you, then, just about that night. Do you remember it?

NATHAN: Yeah.

CLAUDE: Yeah?

02:22:04

Claude & Nathan talking

NATHAN: Yeah, I think about it all the time.

CLAUDE: What do you think about?

NATHAN: What if I never shot the gun? What if it never happened?

CLAUDE: Do you ever go back even further than that--

[Simultaneous discussion]

NATHAN: Like what if I’d have got my grades right and just I could have still been playing basketball.

CLAUDE: Did that, do you think that would push you into doing what you did?

NATHAN: Yeah. I was basically, I planned on making it out and helping my family with playing basketball.

02:22:38

Claude & Nathan talking

CLAUDE: But, you know, after you couldn’t play basketball you start to victimizing people and that’s what I’m kind of, that’s a big jump. When you tapped on the window, I know I, I hit, I punched it. I mean, why did you shoot?

NATHAN: I was, I was nervous because it ain’t never happened like that. Usually they get out the car and just give us the car. I guess I just panicked and shot.

02:23:05

Claude & Nathan talking

CLAUDE:  So, when did you find out that you might have shot somebody?

NATHAN: It was the next morning, they was talking about it on the news.

CLAUDE: Oh, for real.

NATHAN: Yeah.

CLAUDE: Was you nervous then?

NATHAN: I really didn’t think about it because they said you were okay so I really didn’t, I didn’t think about the situation at the time.

CLAUDE: I just kind of want you to humanize the whole situation. It hurt so many people, you know. It’s devastating. You’re injured, too, I’m injured, but what they don’t see, what people don’t see is those scars inside, you know, those things that you don’t realize is always there until it just hits you.

02:23:45

Claude & Nathan talking

You know, when I was 16 I left the house, too, for different reasons, but, you know, never made them choices. I wanted to look at you face to face, just to say, you know, you didn’t have to do that. You know, you didn’t have to take that route in life.

02:24:05

Claude & Nathan talking

You a Black male, you know what I’m trying to say, we’re both in a unique situation when we talk about our position in this world. There is no easy way. There’s nothing easy.

02:24:16

GESKE: Why don’t we take a little break, get my chance to check in with both of you.

02:24:20

Claude & Ms. Geske talking

GESKE: What are you thinking?

CLAUDE: It’s a kid in front of me, it’s a kid, I mean a kid, like, I mean, if he’s that way at 18, I can’t even understand the way he was at 15.

GESKE: Yeah. He’s really nervous. He really wanted to show you walking on crutches. He wanted to show you he could do that.

CLAUDE: Really.

GESKE: Yeah. I mean, that’s why we had all this at the beginning.

CLAUDE: That is something else.

GESKE: I mean, and a lot, you’re a father figure to him, you know, which is really ironic--

[Chuckling]

CLAUDE: It is, that, I mean, that’s, yeah.

02:25:06

Reentering room with Nathan

GESKE: Do you want to say something, Nathan?

NATHAN: Well, I do apologize for what I did to, I put you through and your family. I want you to let them know that I’m sorry for what I did.

CLAUDE: I appreciate that, man. I forgive you, too. You know, I do. I see you, you know. You’re a kid, man, at 15, you was a baby, you know, so I’m not, I wouldn’t try to hold nothing over you like that.

02:25:36

Claude & Nathan talking

CLAUDE: Go ahead, man. What you want to say?

NATHAN: And I plan on paying, because I got restitution, I plan on paying, it’s going to take a while, but I, I’m going to plan, I plan on paying my restitution, so.

CLAUDE: [Chuckles] Man, with my bills, man, I wish you, yeah, thank you.

[Chuckling]

CLAUDE: Thank you. But, yeah, you just, you focus on getting better, man, you focus on getting, I mean, doing what you can do.

NATHAN: And I hope like me and you can like develop a relationship, if that’s okay with you.

CLAUDE: It might take me a little bit.

NATHAN: Take some time, yeah, that’s, I know.

CLAUDE: It might take some time, but I definitely won’t close that door.

02:26:19

Claude & Nathan talking

CLAUDE: Is there anything else you want to express to me, to talk to me about?

NATHAN: No. I just wish the best for you and your family. That’s it.

CLAUDE: Good.

Nathan walking on crutches

[Music swells]

02:26:42

Nathan going out in wheelchair

CLAUDE: Take it easy, man.

NATHAN: You, too.

02:27:05

Driving in car, scenery, Claude driving car

CLAUDE: Did you see all the work downstairs in the basement, all that wood, that paneling, that’s me and him put that up, yeah, yeah, so yeah, we, this is my old house, man, this is where I grew up at.

02:27:16

Claude at his childhood home

But, you know, we just couldn’t hold onto it and, you know, I’m glad somebody bought it and trying to take care of it, man, because, like I said, it’s a solid house.

MAN: Yes, it is.

CLAUDE: Yeah.

[Car horn beeping]

02:27:29

Claude talking to a friend

I love this neighborhood.

[Talking to friend in truck]

02:27:36

Claude talking to a friend

I don’t ever think that I would ever have that sense of community as I do here. I will just never have that.

02:27:44

Milwaukee made me who I am, and I will always be that person.

02:28:01

House in Charlotte, in bathroom, getting into car

I have to take baby steps, slow down, I just had to, you know, maybe take a swallow.

02:28:17

Claude at work

MAN: I’m Michael and this is Claude.

MAN: Pleasure to meet you.

MAN: And we help companies, small and large, with controlling costs on their benefits programs.

CLAUDE: This gives people a chance to, if they’re underinsured they can get, for a very small price, they can get something that would at least protect them for, you know, minor injuries or even catastrophic injuries. I know if I would have had that, it would have helped me out immensely.

02:28:43

Claude at work, talking to Claude at home

I think that I was talking a lot about what I wanted to do, what I was doing, and I think that I was almost fooling myself a lot, but this is mine. This is, this is mine. This is what I’m going to do right now, sell insurance, make money so that I can take the test on my terms and go forward from there.

02:29:10

Claude getting in car

[Music swells]

If I think about the momentum that stopped in my life at that point in time, you get depressed. If you feel like the potential that it probably robbed from you, the time it robbed from you, you get a little grief, but from the moment I got shot, every day after that is a blessing because I’m breathing and I feel, I feel that I don’t deserve to feel all those other things.

02:29:55

I still don’t think that I’ve reached not just my goals but my purpose. I’m still out there searching, looking for myself, I guess. So we’ll see where, you know, where that takes me. Take me home or something.

Claude driving off

02:30:33

END CREDITS